The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1983
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The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1983 |
There are three concepts contained within the title of this sermon -- man's portion of responsibility, restoration by indemnity, and the time of perfection. Also we can understand the title to mean the time of man's responsibility, the time of restoration by indemnity and the time of perfection.
Some Christians today may be puzzled when they hear about indemnity and think, "Almighty God is a God of a soft heart, a God of love. What do you mean by such a cruel thing as indemnity? God is not cruel." Often people would prefer to think that if they simply continue to believe in Jesus they would be saved. They think they don't have to do anything else.
Let us examine what is meant by "Belief in Jesus." To what extent does someone believe in Jesus? Does a person believe in Jesus on the individual level or Jesus within the family or Jesus as he reigns over the society, nation, the universe, or the Jesus who is in God? That makes a lot of difference.
A favorite Bible verse of Christians today is John 3:16, which says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have eternal life." The most important part of that verse is that God loved the world. However, many Christians put the greatest emphasis upon the second part of the verse. Many people forget the most important thing: that God so loved the world. God did not love the church or the individual so much that He sent His only begotten Son. It was because God loved the world, the universe, so much.
Thus Jesus is the one who was meant to save the world. When we believe in Jesus the world is very much in our minds. God is in Jesus and Jesus is in God.
When you say you believe in Jesus, do you only believe in those things, that make you feel good? Do you reject those things about Jesus, which make you feel painful? We should accept what Jesus taught and do those things which Jesus himself would want us to do. We must not take part in things, which Jesus would not like. What are those things, which Jesus would not like? They are, simply, Satan and sin.
We must separate ourselves from Satan and sin and believe in Jesus from that position, rather than from a position in which sin, Satan and Jesus are all mixed together in our lives. This is why Jesus said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." For what should we repent? We must repent of the fact that we have been living together with Satan and sin throughout our lives.
Once we have repented and separated ourselves from Satan, Jesus urges us to believe in Heaven and serve Heaven. Jesus wanted to rule over a world from which Satan and sin were eradicated, not a world in which Satan was mixed together with everything and in which people had just a vague belief in Jesus. Jesus' mission was to separate individuals completely from Satan and sin and separate families and countries from Satan and sin. Did Jesus accomplish those things during his lifetime? That is a question to think about.
Even the most faithful believer in Jesus or the most righteous church on earth cannot proclaim proudly that they are absolutely separated from Satan and sin and that they are following Jesus exactly as he would have them do. No one can say they are living in perfect love in an ideal world with no suffering and tears. No church and no Christian could say such a thing.
This means that Satan exists within the churches as everywhere else; also, there is almost as much sin there as in the rest of the world. If this is true and if what church people love and hate is no different from what the rest of the world loves and hates, then there is very little difference between the world and the church. Which would Satan find more pleasure in, the church or the world? Why would he like the sins of the church more than those of society would in general? Satan likes the sins of the church more because then he can protest to God, "Look at those people in the church, they don't love others; they even hate others! They are not faithful, either. This must be my church."
If the churches remain this way, they must perish at the time of the last days, along with the evil, secular world. This is the way of God; He will destroy all evil at the time of the last days. God would even destroy such churches before the rest of society. This is the actual time of the last days.
What really surprised me when I first came to America was the way Americans used the names of Jesus Christ and God as an exclamation -- not to praise them, but to put them in the worst position. I wondered what people meant when they said, "Jesus Christ!" and I realized that they were describing something bad. What led to this kind of custom? What do the best words imaginable have to do with the worst things that can happen to people? Have you sometimes observed that certain Christians may be worse than people of the secular world? Those who claim they believe in God may actually be worse than those who don't they are more egoistic, less loving and giving, etc.
This American nation is founded upon Judeo-Christian principles, yet Americans have become very individualistic. Was Jesus an individualistic person? How did Americans come to be so egoistic and individualistic when Jesus had nothing of an egoistic nature? We can come to the simple conclusion that if people really believed in Jesus they would not have become like that. Instead of believing in Jesus for Jesus' sake and for God's sake, some people believe in him for their own benefit. In other words, they use Jesus and God for their own sake. What do you think about this?
Returning to our original point, God sent Jesus to mankind because He loved this world so much. Did mankind believe in Jesus the way God wanted them to, or did people generally believe according to their own discretion and desire? This is the most important determining factor of a person's belief.
The greatest error occurs when people think that they can "just believe" in God and Jesus and they will receive more and more blessings from God. Such people feel they can have everything they want, without doing anything in return. That is similar to the attitude of a thief, who just takes things without working.
Did Jesus believe in God in that way? Did he think that because God sent him as His only begotten son it meant he had all power? Did he feel that all he had to do was to keep on believing and claiming his faith in God, and then he could subjugate all the Roman Empire automatically? If Jesus couldn't do that, what is the justification for thinking that other people can do that? In other words, many people say that Jesus couldn't just believe in God and do nothing, but that we can. Jesus believed in God and we believe in Jesus. Jesus didn't just say, "God, I believe in You so You must bring all the people and all the Roman Empire under my domain." It is clear that such a thing would not work for Jesus. To claim that people who do nothing but simply "believe" in Jesus can enjoy the millennium and live in the ideal world with every blessing is truly out of the question.
If everything could have come to Jesus automatically, why did Jesus witness? Why did Jesus gather and train the 12 apostles, the 70 disciples, and the 120 elders? Why did he have to do all that and endure so much persecution along the way? Jesus did what he had to do according to God's dispensation; he had no other way to go. We can clearly see that Jesus had to go the way of persecution and bloodshed. Jesus knew the suffering that lay ahead of him, but he also knew he had to go that way in order to accomplish God's will.
Do you think I am placing unnecessary stress on this or do you understand that this point is the most crucial one of belief? Jesus had to go the way he did because he knew what God wanted him to do, namely to save the world and all mankind by loving them. Therefore, it stands to reason that everyone else who loves Jesus must also do God's will to love the people of the world and save them.
Because God loved the world so much, He sent His only begotten son, so Jesus had the obligation, the mission, to make the world one, which could receive the love of God. Jesus looked around and saw that the world was not lovable. At this time, there are many different churches with great power and influence in the world. They embrace this world in their own ways. However, can they or the world they embrace be considered as truly worthy of God? Can God look at them and be really happy and full of satisfied love for them? Anyone can clearly see that when God looks at the churches and the world, He will not be completely pleased with them. On the other hand, Satan will love those churches and the people in them. Communists have even infiltrated the churches and developed theologies to suit their own purposes, such as liberation theology. How can God love such churches?
Why did I bring up this topic at the beginning of today's sermon? Looking at reality most Unification Church members were traditional Christians at one time or another before coming here. They find the Unification Church so different and so much more difficult and demanding than those Christian denominations, they sometimes get the feeling that the way they used to believe might suit them better. They could sleep and eat all they wanted, and so forth.
We can understand that the true, correct faith is not the way many Christians have been going, but rather it is the way Jesus tried to establish in his time to gather the people, teach the people, and establish the kind of world which God could freely love. Jesus had to love the world in order to accomplish his mission. This was the work of God and also the work of Jesus, it was the purpose for which God sent Jesus. Jesus had to bring the world to God for God to accomplish His purpose of sending Jesus to the world.
Then what would have happened? When all people became worthy of receiving the love of God freely, everything would have been accomplished. God loved the world, so He sent Jesus; when Jesus had made the world capable of receiving the love of God directly, he would have completely accomplished his mission. When the people of the world are able to freely receive the love of Jesus and God, they will be satisfied. These things have to be accomplished; it is very clear.
God will allow man to be punished through Satan, namely through the spread of communism. This is like a healthy body being invaded by germs, all the cells go on alert, and the white blood cells have to eat up the germs soon enough or else the person will not survive. In this huge, once healthy country, the germs of Satan and communism are coming in fast. Unless the churches in America come up with the means to eliminate these germs as fast as they spread, the country will not survive.
This "germ" is proclaiming that the society belongs to the working class, the laborers. Satan is claiming this, but God is saying that the world belongs to the God centered people, not simply the "laborers." Since Satan has his own movement, which is proclaiming an ideology, there should be a movement on God's side, which is claiming with an even stronger voice, "No, you are wrong! The world belongs to God-centered, religious people, no matter what economic class they belong to!"
The people of the world will be hearing two different voices shouting at the top of their lungs; they will have to make a choice. Which side will have the greater chance of being followed, those who are advocating a false doctrine, or those who are stating a righteous fact? Will the multitudes follow those who say, "You must love me," or those who say, "I am not asking you to love me, but to let me love you; let me be of service to you"?
If a group of people emerges from this hopeless world who are loving others, thinking more of serving than being served and doing mainly what Jesus did, then God will be able to fulfill the promise He made when He sent His only begotten son. In other words, a religious group must emerge which is different from what has existed in the past; it must do what Jesus himself did. Jesus sacrificed himself and gave up his own life; he remained completely faithful to his mission of making the world lovable by God, making the people worthy of receiving God's love. If some new religion emerges in this time, following the path, which Jesus trod, then religion and the world will have hope for the first time in a long time. God will then have a foundation to accomplish the same purpose, which He tried to accomplish through Jesus. Do you understand?
Look around and see which denomination would fit these specifications. What about you members of the Unification Church? Why don't we do the same things that other churches do and believe exactly the same way that they do? Why do we fight against communism? We do this because it is the germ, which will destroy all religion, if it prevails. Our movement is trampling down on Satan and sin and especially communism, destroying these germs, and on the other hand we are sacrificing ourselves as Jesus did and bearing our own cross so that God can give His love to the world.
Our method of working is very different from other religious groups. Would God say He likes Unification Church members? Would God be ashamed that we work harder than other Christians do? No, God would say, "How proud I am of the Moonies!" Are you sure He would say that? How about Jesus? When he looks at the Unification movement, would he say, "Oh, you should be ashamed of yourselves; my other followers don't work like you do. You embarrass me?" No, instead Jesus would say, "You are my hope, my pride."
If God loves us and Jesus loves us, what about the people of the world? They might be saying, "We hate those Moonies," but as they say such things, they are watching us and gradually they are discovering that there is nothing wrong with us. They are gradually coming to like us and they will come to see hope in us. When the people of the world have a real chance to see us and live with us, will they continue to hate us or will they love us?
When you see me, do you think, "Father, what other burden are you going to give us? You are not even American; you are Oriental. You have come out of nowhere and are giving us all this trouble!" Are you clear about the Unification Church; are we doing the right things or the wrong things?
We should not try to compare our lifestyle with that of the existing Christian churches, the two were never supposed to be the same. If other churches are joyfully celebrating Christmas, our church should be working hard at Christmas. You may ask yourself, "Am I doing the wrong thing, working so hard for the sake of God and His purposes instead of taking it easy and celebrating Jesus' birth?"
Even if God says you are wrong to work hard like that, we can protest strongly to Him. If He tries to tell us we shouldn't protest, we could become even stronger. Ultimately, He will relent and will tell us we are doing the right thing. Will God say, "That person is disrespectful," or will He be pleased with you? He will be pleased with you.
We are in a wonderful position compared with other Christians. Jesus wasn't able to bring the entire world to God, but we will be able to do that. Jesus was supposed to confront the Roman Empire, which was only a part of the entire world. I have been confronting the government of the U.S. and I have been proclaiming a war against the powers of Moscow, as well. The most powerful effort of America to stop me was to try to put me into jail for one and a half years. Do you think such a thing would stop our movement? Perhaps you Unification Church members never clearly understood the value of what you were doing until now.
Since God loves the world so much and since I love you so much, I continue to push you out in order to make this a lovable world. Is that OK? When we undertake something worthwhile, it is important to have a logical understanding of why we must do it first. It gives us the support we need to carry it out. It is because of man's responsibility that we must do the things we do.
Does God really love me or not? When you look at how hard I have worked and how I have pushed myself, don't you think God might have done something more on my behalf? You say that God really loves me, but I might argue with you and say, "If God loves me, what has He ever done for me?" At no time in my entire career have I ever had a peaceful moment. Wherever I went, I was not readily welcomed at first; it was only after I had given a lot and taught many things. I have had to fight continuously to gain ground for God-inch by inch.
If God were to give me the power to work miracles and somehow retaliate against those who persecute us unrighteously and show them dramatically how wrong they are, they would not continue to mistreat us. Why does God allow these unrighteous things to continue?
When Jesus was crucified, God was certainly watching the scene. Did God not have the power to stop the Roman soldiers and rescue Jesus from the cross? Jesus was God's own son. What kind of a father could bear to see his own son's blood being shed in such an unrighteous way and not do something? Can we call such a God a God of love and justice? Where was God's justice then? When my court case was over and the judge pronounced my sentence, why didn't God do something? Was it because God did not have the power to do anything? Why did God seem to pretend not to know about it? That is a riddle. In this common yet very important issue comes the understanding of the human portion of responsibility.
The discovery of man's portion of responsibility is a cosmic discovery. Great discoveries have been made in science, such as the atomic bomb or Einstein's theory of relativity; however, the discovery of the law of human responsibility is the greatest of all. Without understanding this principle, no major point in mankind's history can be understood. Without this, all the most fundamental issues in life remain as a puzzle.
There have been universal questions, which can finally be answered, such as, "Why do righteous people always have to suffer? Why is a great man's name only resurrected after his death?" These questions have never before been answered clearly. You must realize that this knowledge is not something superficial; it is truly the greatest discovery of history.
The Moonies are the ones who are supposed to appreciate this fact of man's responsibility the most, but ironically you hate it as much as everybody else does. Do you truly appreciate it or do you hate it? Have you accomplished your portion of responsibility or not?
Another principle inevitably follows upon the underlying fact of human responsibility and that is restoration by indemnity. The duration of the human indemnity period is not known by anyone -- not God, not spirit world, not me, not anyone. We may keep asking why the misery in life must go on, but that is the fact of the principle. If anybody, including God, takes away some of the indemnity from another person, he can no longer fulfill the principle. This is why God did not intervene when Adam and Eve committed the fall. God couldn't intervene because He would not violate man's portion of responsibility.
When I was going through my period of worst indemnity, God could not help me. Instead, He said, "You are about to inherit all that was given to Adam. In order to receive it, you must go through this course by yourself and win the victory by yourself." The same is true for everyone else. I was suffering from cold weather but I discarded my coat. Satan himself couldn't stand to see me suffering that way, so he inspired someone to come and offer me a coat. God would never take away a coat, which had been received in such a way. Not only that, but also no other satanic power can come along and take away such a coat. When God allows you to suffer and the satanic realm tries to help you, nothing worse can ever come against you. You have conquered the worst possible suffering.
I have been persecuted for ten years in this country, yet I have not done anything evil or wrong. Many people are watching what has been happening to me and are curious about the source of the persecution. Many well educated scientists can see that even though the majority of the world is accusing Reverend Moon, I have been doing things that are worthy of praise and even assistance.
Once we win that kind of approval, the greatest power of Satan can no longer prevail against us. After Satan has opposed someone so much then God can freely love that person and Satan will have no chance to accuse him anymore. Thus a way is being created by which God can more speedily love all those who have been unworthy of His love. Quickly the conditions are made for God to embrace them.
Why can't Satan do anything more? There was no opposition to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden at first. They were not under the pressure of an evil world, yet they betrayed God. At this time, during the time of restoration by indemnity, Satan is putting tremendous pressure on people, trying to prevent them from doing the right thing and following the Divine Principle and returning to God. However when people overcome the pressure from Satan and join the Unification Church and work hard, like Jesus himself, Satan certainly has no power against that.
There is no more efficient way for people to go from the extreme of being unworthy of God's love to being worthy except by going through persecution. When you achieve the goal in the face of tremendous persecution, God can bring you from the extremely bad position to the extremely good position.
At the time of Adam, the archangel betrayed God and seduced Eve. Unlike that archangel, the archangel who helps people to believe in God at this time is instantly restored to a better position than even those archangels who never fell. Satan can do nothing about it.
This is the clear reason why God allows things to happen the way they do. The first thing we must do is separate ourselves from Satan. Do we do that when our lives are cozy and comfortable? No, the best way to separate ourselves from Satan is when we are enduring tremendous persecution. Once we go beyond that situation of persecution, we are automatically separated from Satan, so that is the best way.
We must understand clearly the time we are living in today. The Unification Church is going through this period of tremendous persecution, all the while doing righteous things and committing no crimes or sin. In this situation, those people who support me and our movement are automatically transferred from the fallen archangel's position into the restored archangel's position, which is an even better position than the unfallen archangel. That is the time period in which we are living today.
The culmination of this was in 1976, the year when worldwide persecution was at its height. Since that time opposition has gradually declined. Before that year the satanic world was closing in on us, but now they are opposing us from a basic position of retreat. Upon this foundation I proclaimed the beginning of a new era on February 23, 1977. The time of worldwide opposition to the Unification Church has passed and persecution will not become any worse. The tide of grace has started to flow in.
In 1980, I inspired the growth of the CARP movement here in America. It was strong in other countries, but that was the first time it was emphasized so strongly in America. It was strengthened for the purpose of annihilating all the communist activity on college campuses.
Remember the reason why these things have been happening -- everything begins from the point of human responsibility. After man's responsibility is accomplished, what happens then? Once an individual successfully fulfills his portion of responsibility, that person enters the realm of the direct dominion of God. That is the principle. What is that direct dominion? Does God maintain that dominion over a person by giving him a lot of money, or what? It is only through love that God gains direct dominion over man. Once that direct dominion is achieved, people can lead the kind of life, for the first time, which God originally intended for them to live. Adam and Eve can then pass that love along on the horizontal realm in God's place, and make the foundation of Heaven on earth in reality. After that, no more indemnity needs to be paid.
In the Garden of Eden there was no crime or sin. Adam and Eve could do nothing really wrong except to violate the commandment God gave them. Once Adam and Eve had come under the direct dominion, that would have meant they had passed through the time of the possibility of the fall. The only thing that would have been left for them to do was to experience love. Nothing else would have been truly significant. Love is the most essential and important element of the world; unless someone had violated that, nothing would have been a sin. Therefore all a person must accomplish is to receive the certificate of God's love. God can make the world a totally peaceful place. Satan will be unable to complain against God at all. When we finally possess God's love, we never want to commit a crime or a sin at all. The reason why people commit crimes and sin is that they want something they don't have. When God's love is with us we are satisfied and have no need for anything more. Do you understand?
We must clearly understand where we can fulfill our portion of responsibility. It is only when we are on the front line. Only through fulfilling one's portion of responsibility can one accomplish restoration by indemnity; and that can be done only on the front line, not in the rear area.
Not only is there the individual level of indemnity, there is also the family level, the clan, society, national, world level, universal, and cosmic levels. Altogether there are eight steps of indemnity. The question is whether you have ever gone through these eight steps of indemnity.
One might ask why this is so incredibly complicated. This is not something I made up; this principle has existed from the very beginning, although it hasn't been so well understood. It existed when Adam and Eve were alive but all they needed to do was simply keep God's commandment and live for 21 years faithful to God. All these conditions would have been automatically fulfilled, with no need to mention them again. Before Satan existed there was no indemnity condition to be met.
Since the fall occurred, however, and since restoration efforts have consistently failed we find that it takes a long and complicated route, step by step, to separate from Satan -- from the individual to the cosmic levels. This law of indemnity and the steps of indemnity are applicable not just to specific individuals or just to Unification Church members but to everyone. Whether someone understands or believes this law or not, he must eventually go through these steps.
This is the reason why we go the path we go, yet people are watching only the external fact that Reverend Moon is pushing the Unification Church members to work hard without a salary. Other people may work only eight hours and receive a high salary, which they are usually not satisfied with. However, if you received a big salary for your work, what would be the result? You would not be fulfilling the indemnity condition or fulfilling your human portion of responsibility. No one can be liberated from Satan's domain without fulfilling man's portion of responsibility.
I have consistently taken the position of not wanting any individual to help me, no family to help me, nor any nation. Since I took that position of absolute independence because that was the way to fulfill my own portion of responsibility, my own physical relatives, my society and nation have come against me. Those in my closest surroundings have opposed me. However, I knew I had to adhere to this course. In order to establish once and for all the perfect, clean and clear indemnity condition, I could not receive any help from others. I never did it in a proud way but I never counted on anybody else's help.
I proclaimed to God, "I am doing this out of my own desire, not because you demanded it of me. I am doing this because I want to do it so that I can be liberated by accomplishing my own responsibility." I told God and myself those things. If there had been True Parents or someone guiding me and pushing me to do it whether I liked it or not, it might have been helpful. However, I didn't have any True Parents so I had to do it on my own.
What was my goal? It was that one day after the successful completion of my mission, I would see millions of people calling themselves true children and looking up to me as True Parent and receiving instant benefit, without having to do much themselves. The complicated process of restoring man's portion of responsibility only came about when Adam and Eve fell; the responsibility only applies to the position of Adam and Eve. Now that True Parents have been established, they can take care of the children and Satan cannot say anything against those children within the True Parents' family.
In the beginning man's responsibility only applied to Adam and Eve. Do you understand? That means that until Adam and Eve fulfill man's portion of responsibility, all people everywhere are hooked or held back by the law of man's responsibility.
Christianity has been waiting for someone to come to earth to fulfill this human part of responsibility -- the Second Advent of the messiah -- to deliver all followers back to the realm of God and His love. This is what all mankind has been waiting for until now.
Now True Parents are established in the Unification Church; the church members are under the realm of grace but the name of True Parents has not yet been brought to the nation or the world levels. Still we have to go over the nation, the world, and ultimately Satan. Even though they are straggling and disorganized, satanic powers are still coming against us. The Unification Church is not confining the True Parents within the framework of the church, but is expanding it to the nation and beyond. That is why we have been doing witnessing, fundraising and so forth. Those who help us in our fundraising automatically receive God's grace and blessing, as we know.
Now the dawn is approaching. True Parenthood has already started to be accepted on the national level. It is starting from the most miserable countries, torn apart between two powers, such as the Latin American countries.
Intelligent Americans today can find no solid direction to follow no clear road to take. Then they find the Unification Church. Think of a fishing line, with America pulling on one end and the Unification Church on the other. Who will reel in whom? Will America reel in the Moonies or the Moonies reel in America? Then you had better have a strong reel or it will strain and the line will snap! Is your reel and line strong enough? You say yes, but when I look at you I don't feel so comfortable; your line needs a little maintenance. You need some help -- there is a chemical, which you can spray on your reel and your line becomes very strong. My words are like that chemical; they work a miracle within you and you can become stronger and powerful.
I am in the same position as you are, only at a higher level. I really don't care what kind of wind blows against me for I know that one day the wind will stop. Even if the wind blows you off the ground, you shouldn't care.
Do you need restoration by indemnity or not? If you need it, what about Jesus -- did he need restoration by indemnity also? What about Reverend Moon? Yes, no matter what, there is no way I can avoid that. No matter how almighty God is, there is no way even He can avoid that. We must march on continually for the indemnity course. There can be no excuse. So do you understand this point clearly? But when I say, "Go that way," it is something else! Will you welcome my direction or not? It is no secret that this is an archangel country, and the archangel country must fulfill indemnity well.
Now you have learned something new. Tracing back to the original fall, the portion of human responsibility was only to have applied to Adam and Eve, no one else. We must throw Satan out because he has no legitimate place anymore. From now on your thinking can be very simple. You don't have to wonder, but you can ask your Parents, "Father, should I do this or that?" and you can receive direct guidance. It's very convenient!
Most American youth today don't want to listen to their parents. However this is not an altogether bad phenomenon because they are guided by the spirit to know that their parents are not able to give them the kind of spiritual nourishment they really need. The True Parents are coming to them -- children need True Parents. Also young people are rebelling against Satan's world; they feel they would rather do anything than live in this terrible world the way it is.
At this time young Americans are saying, "I am not interested in just the nation. I want to live on the world level and associate with something, which is brand new and fresh, not just the old worn-out ways. I want to associate with all kinds of people of the world, not just the people I am familiar with. I hate what the established people do; whatever they discourage, I want to do." That is a prevalent attitude among many young people. They are very bored and they have tried many things. They don't want to follow what their parents, teachers and government tells them to do.
Then they see the Moonies and everybody is saying, "Stay away from them! Don't even talk to them." They respond with, "I will check them out!" Young people always want to go beyond the borderlines of existing society and once they get out beyond the borderlines, they find the Moonies. Once they meet the Moonies they find something brand new and very promising. They become very happy people.
Many young people today have already had so many experiences they feel they are already old and mature. But things are so different within the Unification Church society. Young men have been accustomed to trying to date attractive young women, but that is not the custom in the Unification Church. In the secular world, if a boy gazes at a girl for more than 10 minutes he naturally reaches out to kiss her, but here we are together for hours, days, even years and we never kiss!
This world is doing such bad things -- free sex, with no thoughts of chastity. People from that background are joining the Unification Church. We talk here about love in a different sense. We say we must love the world, love the cosmos, and it is a new concept to young people. A young person might ask himself, "When does my own love come to me?" However he knows that it will come so he doesn't have to worry. Is this something good or something bad?
A young man may touch a woman here, not like a spouse but as a sister. What do you feel toward your own sister? A normal person certainly doesn't look at his sister like a spouse. When the blessing time comes, a brother looks at a person he always thought of as his sister. Suddenly God is telling them, "Although you have been brother and sister, like Adam and Eve, now it is time for you to get married." You might say, "Well, I will think about it." That is a normal and wonderful way of thinking.
When a couple have lived as brother and sister and then get married like Adam and Eve and have children, how can they ever divorce? Can you divorce your own sister? Even though you may divorce, you are still living in the same "house" in God's eyes. This is a small world, where would you go if you divorced? There would be no place for you to go. Therefore, you have to go back to each other and make up eventually.
Satan is always doing something, isn't he? However, he is actually helping God's work generally. The communists are also helping God's work. If something as bad as communism were not on the earth, what chance would the Unification Church have of promoting the truth of God? Communists work very hard because of what they believe, even though their belief is wrong. They have worked hard for 60 years to get to where they are now. From now on the Unification Church can accomplish more in 6 years than what the communists have done in 60 years.
The only person who has to successfully carry out all the eight steps of indemnity for the first and last time in history is Reverend Moon. You might say, "I don't know if that is true or not. I have no way to prove it. Father, when did you receive that much persecution, even on the worldwide level?" Go to the library and read about history. In the history of religions, has anybody ever gone through such persecution? In that sense, do I belong in the Guinness Book of Records? Even an ordinary person in a very few hours could find that nobody has been more persecuted on a worldwide level than Reverend Moon.
Unheard of events are happening now. Parents are kidnapping their own children -- grown up children 30 years and older, college graduates, and so forth. When those children are kidnapped, do they tell their parents, "Oh, I have been waiting for you to come and rescue me. The church wouldn't let go of me"? Or do they look desperately for a chance to escape from the kidnappers and come right back to the church?
Since you joined this church I have always taught you to love your parents; I have never taught you to look at them as "false parents" or to denounce them in any way. However, many parents have kidnapped their children and have said many bad things against me. When that happens the children are moved to say, "On what grounds can you say such things? Have you investigated those charges on your own?" However, all their negativity is usually based upon the words of other people -- "They said..." is the only foundation for their negativity. Satan always makes up stories and can inspire people to say anything to suit their own purposes. According to that criterion, who is standing on the heavenly side?
For whom have I gone through these things? As we said in the beginning, "For God so loved the world..." and because God loves the world so much, I have done what I have done. God so loved the world that He gave them His only begotten son -- He loves the world, but He cannot give His pure love to the world directly. Therefore, He had to send His son to prepare the world. What kind of love are we talking about, then? God loves the world like a father loves his son; no closer love exists than that between father and son. We are doing exactly this: we are making this a world, which can be lovable to God. We are taking the children to the parents and eventually to God.
Jesus completely occupied the love of God but he did not want to stop there. He knew why God sent him to the world, so he did everything possible to pass along God's love to other people. Jesus received the purest love from God and he wanted to spread out that love to the whole world. He wanted to make all mankind into God's sons and daughters.
Jesus wanted all the people of the world to be loved by God, just as he was. Jesus was the one who was first loved by God; all mankind was supposed to be those who were second-loved by God. Therefore, the relationship between Jesus and all mankind is like brothers. How close you can feel to Jesus when you realize that he is your elder brother!
Many Christians have believed that Jesus or God is the subject of religion and we are their objects and we can never get close to each other. They are so high and omnipotent that we can't even think about being on the same level of relationship with them; if we do, that is blasphemy. But we can see that Jesus is not the distant subject of religious belief. He is a part of your daily life, just as brothers and sisters in a family, not like the teacher of a religion relating to his followers. Maybe the first step of relationship had to be distant like that, but eventually Jesus wanted everybody to be a part of the same family.
Jesus had to approve of something before God could approve of it. When Jesus was able to approve of the situation on the earth, God could automatically approve of it. When Jesus could love the people, so could God. All he would have to say would be, "Father, they are ready to receive Your love, so please love them." Thus, the meaning of John 3:16 would be accomplished, "God so loved the world..."
That is the kind of church we are working in and that is goal we are working toward. We must understand that clearly. The democratic world may decline one day; the communist world will certainly be eliminated and leave no trace behind. However, the teaching of the Unification Church will remain for eternity. We will begin to see the era of completion. Everything will be completed and we will have nothing more to do except enjoy the world.
I have been doing the necessary indemnity conditions single-handedly. Why is True Parenthood necessary? Why must True Parents do these conditions? The first thing people need is love. Why do you need love? You need love because you are a representative of God. This is the cosmic principle -- before someone can be a representative of someone else he must first be able to love him. You only want someone you love to represent you. It is also a cosmic law that any child who loves his parents the most and has a lovable personality will someday inherit the most of the parent's possessions, even though there may be ten other brothers.
Therefore, we need love more than anything else, more than clothing, food, sleep, or even a big nugget of gold. A man alone can never inherit the love or possessions of God; neither can a woman alone. Men and women must be married in love, resembling the love of God and coming under the dominion of the love of God and then they will eventually inherit God's possessions.
Is the source or the beginning of love within men and women or does it start from God? How about marriage? Should men and women get together on their own and agree to start their marriage? Or would it be a little better to get together and promise each other to marry but to go to their parents and ask for their permission? Or before they promise marriage to each other should they go to their parents first and ask for their blessing and if they approve, then they will marry. If they do not approve, they will not. Which is the best way? Certainly it is the third way. God is the subject of love, so love originates from Him. No matter how brilliant and strong a man may be, he is always an object to God; he can never be the same as God.
This is one rigid area in the Unification Church. No matter who they are, when two people decide all on their own to get married and they come to me and ask for my blessing, I never do it. I cannot bless such a union which did not start first from God but from within the two people. The first condition they must set is to separate from each other and then let God take over. What if someone takes the extreme position and tells his parents, "if you do not approve of our marriage, we will kill ourselves!"? Still the parents cannot yield to such a threat; that is unlawful. You cannot give inheritance unlawfully. Why do we maintain this law so rigidly? It is so that we can have the right to inherit all possessions from God.
If the world were to call me True Parent, would you like it? Do you think I want to have that much worry? If I have blessed 10,000 couples, do I have 10,000 worries or 10,000 happiness? Happiness and worry cannot coexist, so which is it? It is worry in the beginning, but if you do well it becomes happiness. If you do not do well, it certainly cannot bring happiness to me. Whenever a couple has a problem they want to come to me; they don't resolve it between themselves. The husband may come to me and tell me all the bad things about his wife. That is not necessarily bad because I am the parent. In Korea we have a saying, "I am a sinner for being a parent." God, too, has been in that position until today. He has never been able to receive joy and happiness.
As loving as I am, I could say, "Let's forget about the world and just enjoy each other as Unification Church members. Let's enjoy life and forget about everybody else." Shall we do that, or shouldn't I continue to drive you out into the cold weather to work and make the world a lovable place?
I may have moments of enjoyment or good sleep for a few hours or a good meal, but then I immediately feel uncomfortable. I think, "I should have devoted this time for the sake of the world. I wish I had." That is how I feel. If you rest and have an easy time in your position, that prolongs the Parents' pain so much more because the objective is to bring the whole world back to God. That objective is delayed if you just take it easy.
The glory must be returned to God, but God cannot initiate this. This restoration must be accomplished among people who are in the archangelic position, especially in this country, which represents all the archangelic countries of the world. You must plan, "This is the situation, so we must take this action in America for the sake of God." God always sacrifices the smaller portion for the larger one; this is God's justice. We must learn God's way of thinking.
What is the goal of restoration through indemnity? If we suffer and sacrifice, we do that to find something greater. It is never to find something smaller that we sacrifice ourselves. If someone claims that the bigger purpose should be sacrificed for the sake of the smaller one, we know that is not right. Who is the biggest one in the universe? God is. Therefore, every level of sacrifice should contribute to God's purpose and give Him support from all directions. The center of the universe, God, should not be shifted under any circumstance.
So, mankind must do all indemnity, not God. This is a basic principle of development and existence. The smaller purpose must be sacrificed for the sake of the larger one. One man must sacrifice for the sake of a hundred men. Is it a sin for a man to cut down a living plant and eat it? When you cut a vegetable it contains liquid, equivalent to the blood of an animal. We must eat every day; otherwise we could not survive. Do the vegetables have the right to accuse you of being a murderer since you are killing them? No, they don't because smaller existences in the universe must serve the larger. That is the law of existence.
Individuals within a country should offer themselves for the sake of their country, not the other way around. That is principle. For the sake of the world, a country should be willing to offer itself. For the sake of God, the world itself should be offered. Those who go against this principle will eventually perish; they cannot truly prosper.
Darwin had a point in his theory of evolution when he showed that the stronger eat the weaker in development. When the stronger eats the weaker for the sake of connecting to a higher level, there is a moral justification for that. Is it a sin for a man to slaughter a cow or a pig and eat it? If a man eats that animal in order to be able to work for the sake of God and His love, certainly that is in accordance with the law of existence. Everything will condone his actions, even the animal he slaughtered.
When Unification Church members are living for themselves and I tell them that they must go out and work for the sake of the world, does this stand to reason? For the sake of the larger purpose, I can give you that kind of direction. Do you want to go to a lower or a higher place in the universe? You must give yourself to the world. The more you sacrifice the closer in love you become with the people of the world.
A patriot is one who works the most for his country. A filial son is the one who works more than any of the other brothers for the sake of the parents. Do you feel enthusiastic about the discovery of the right laws of existence before God? This is the point, which is described in the Bible passage, "Those who are willing to die for my sake, will gain their lives." Those people who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of the largest purpose will gain their lives. Those who want to cling to their own small purpose and ignore the big purpose will perish. They will gradually retreat more and more and eventually die.
I have talked to you sometimes harshly, disciplining you with my words. Do you think I should just use words, or should I bring a big stick and drive you out that way? Sometimes a child may be stubborn and refuse to go where the parents want him. He may kick and protest, but the parents will drag him against his will. They can be so strong because they are trying to bring the child to a great feast. When he finally arrives at the feast, he will see delicious food everywhere and he will smile from ear to ear. When parents know something strongly, they will do everything to push a child into the right place because they know it is good for him.
How do you rate me? Am I a good teacher or a bad one? Am I a loving father or a hateful one? Should I leave the lazy children alone now and allow them to be punished later, or shouldn't I do everything at this time to push them forward so that later they can be rewarded? Some parents are unable to be harsh even when they want to be. What about me? Do you think I have that problem? Or am I able to push anybody toward what I know is right? Certainly, I can. Without that, how could I fight single-handedly against American and Oriental persecution? Do you think I have guts? If someone has no guts he certainly cannot proclaim a war against the Kremlin!
I know that if you do not live in a worthy way now, you will really suffer in the spirit world. Since I know that, I would rather make you do things well here on earth.
What do you leaders think of man's portion of responsibility? I have been saying again and again that if headquarters helps a center when it is going through difficulty, it is not good for them in the long run. Their indemnity stops at that point. If a center is really going through incredible difficulty and about to die, then the center should think, "I don't mind if I die, but I want to make sure that something bigger than I will benefit from my death."
A state leader exists for the sake of his state, but if he thinks that since he is the head of that state everyone else should come to him and help him, he will never succeed. Such a method would not work for Jesus and it certainly won't work for anyone else. First we must go out and sacrifice ourselves, giving love and service to others. After that they may offer help to us and we can receive it and offer it to God.
America is a big, established country with many customs and traditions. However, the only ones which are worth following are those which are based upon the universal principles. Therefore, I do not endorse the activities of any state leaders if they have been doing things, which are not in accordance with the principle. When a leader does things in his own way which is not in alignment with principle, that leader is not a heavenly leader. Those who do not work hard in their states because of difficulties there are already retreating.
I did not drop everything because of the incredible difficulties of the court case. Instead, while I was fighting that battle I also inspired the establishment of the Washington Times and many other things, among them the CAUSA movement.
I am emphasizing these principles to all of you because this is my own way of life. I have never asked for help from any individual, family, or country, even from Korea. I want to be in the position to do something for the sake of Korea, not to receive something from them. It violates my own portion of responsibility to receive such help.
There are many millionaires in this country but I have never asked them to help in this cause. Instead, I have given help to America. In the midst of persecution and lack of cooperation, it took $60 million to make the Inchon movie. Did we do that because we had nothing better to do? Did we do it for our own sake? Certainly not. Whether Americans accept this movie or not is up to them, but the fact remains that it was produced with the utmost pain. Money and sleepless nights were spent for the sake of America -- these are facts which nobody can change. The reason we produced this movie was to make American people aware that they need strength like MacArthur's in order to revive their country today. Without such a revival, America will stop where she is.
I am determined to make you the best, not mediocre members of the Unification Church. I will train you and make you so strong that within a few years you will be better persons in every way -- better personalities, better character, better educated, and better disciplined than any congressmen or senators of this country who are not God centered people. This is the reality of our movement today. Such things are very noble and good things.
As long as there are Americans who will listen to what I am saying and who realize that what I am saying and doing is right, I know we can succeed. If the white people don't accept what we are doing, there are others: Black, Spanish, Oriental people, for example. If they accept what we are doing then I know we can succeed. If I cannot succeed during this generation, the next generation will have to do it. It would be up to you to succeed in my place. Do you understand? I cannot retreat. America was originally inhabited by Indians, who are of the Oriental race, so this is my cousin country.
I chose this first day of March to launch a new movement in our church. My strategy and purpose is not to benefit the Unification Church or myself, but to make all Unification Church members people who accomplish man's portion of responsibility.
State leaders have the responsibility to make their state one, which can be lovable by God. As a state leader one must travel constantly, covering the whole area. There should be no village, which the state leader has not visited you, must feel such concern for the state. Of you 50 state leaders, who of you have visited the entire state? You have to appeal to the people, "If you don't listen to me, you will all perish!" Those of you, who have cried for yourselves out of misery, raise your hands. Does that mean the others of you have never cried for your own situation? Does that mean you have been that happy? Those who have never cried for any reason, raise your hands. You all have cried in the past, haven't you? For whose sake have you cried? If you weren't crying for the world and the country, then you can conclude that you cried for yourself.
Human history began many, many years ago. When it began it started with tears. For whose sake did Adam and Eve shed tears? It was for themselves. When they were expelled from the Garden, they left with tears. What about God? Was He happy because they were shedding tears and deserved it? We must understand that God was equally, if not more, tearful because He had to expel them. We have to indemnify that. Is it possible to repent with laughter? No, we can only repent by crying out in tears.
Jesus and John the Baptist proclaimed repentance because the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand. The Unification Church is crying out the same thing at this time. We must repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. What does repentance accomplish? Adam and Eve wept for their own sake. In the place of Adam and Eve, should the Unification Church members weep for themselves too? No, they should weep for the sake of God and for mankind. The best attitude for a Unification Church member is not to care about himself and whether or not he goes to Heaven or Hell. You don't have to think about that, but you should cry and pray to God for the sake of mankind. Tell God, "I will cry for them. I am not worried about whether or not You will send me to Hell. I am only concerned about stopping Your tears, God. By doing this work, I want to save mankind in the future."
Some leaders come to me and say, "We want to do this cheerfully and joyfully." However, there is no such thing as 100 percent joyful and cheerful. You don't understand God -- if God is crying with a wounded heart, how can any Unification Church members be happy all the time? No, that is the wrong concept. If someone feels that he can only do God's work when he is feeling happy, he must understand where true happiness comes from. The only way to find your happiness is to do the work, which will stop God from shedding tears, and will stop mankind from perishing. Do it and do it right -- that is where your happiness will lie. There can be no other happiness except that.
We want to be loyal citizens and filial children. Such people can only do what their parents or their ruler needs for them to do. God is our parent, so we must faithfully do whatever He needs us to do. In that way we will be doing our mission properly. Such people are called holy, sacred people -- saints. That is exactly what we ought to be. All Unification Church members must become saints before they are eligible to be sons and daughters of God. Sons and daughters of God is a level, which is above that of saint, not the other way around. Therefore, we must surpass the level of the saints.
This is what my life has been focused on. Year after year, day after day, my life has been filled with tears. I pray to God, "I pray that by my shedding tears Your tears can be stopped and those of all of mankind, I don't mind shedding tears if that can happen." I am confident now that Unification Church's members will no longer shed tears for themselves.
When my first wife betrayed me, I shed no tears. When my own relatives treated me badly, I never shed tears; but I never prayed without tears. Those are holy, sacred tears and we cannot accomplish anything without such tears. Since tears originated from the fall of Adam and Eve, I did not want to cry in the same way. The only reason I have wept is to stop the tears of God and mankind.
Many different kinds of complicated situations have existed within my family, including financial problems, but nothing of that sort ever caused me to shed tears. I thought that Satan would sometimes deliberately test me. As a representative of the world and mankind, one might weep from such a serious viewpoint and be justified. You must understand that if you cry tears only for your own sake, it has nothing to do with indemnity or the restoration. You cannot cross the eight levels of indemnity crying for your own sake. Do you understand?
Again we see that those who want to die for others will live and those who want to live selfishly will die. Even someone who does good things and brings good results but whose motivation is for his own sake and not for mankind or for God, will not end up in Heaven but will very likely be in Hell. On the other hand, if someone else does something less but he does it for the largest purpose of God and mankind, then certainly he will be destined for Heaven. Do you understand?
Do you think I am saying that the Unification Church is nothing but a succession of misery, with no time for the members to laugh and be joyful? Certainly not, but keep in mind the goal of God. Become successful. When there is a lull, we can laugh and enjoy ourselves, but at the next moment we must take on the next task to be done.
Every morning when we go out to the world to work, we are filled with anxiety about how we are going to accomplish our goal. We are not really worried but we are filled with expectations and we have confidence that if we work with all of our might, Heaven and spirit world will help. With such an attitude, you will have good results at the end of the day.
I know that you are prepared to take on difficulties, but how much difficulty? Every day is a day of concentration, a life or death situation. After a number of years of living that way, you feel you were born for such a life. I don't want to look back on the past days of misery. The course of restoration is a long, agonized, tedious time.
Once you win something the hard way, you really appreciate it and you do not want to lose any part of it. You feel you would rather die at that point than retreat or give up any of your victory. You would want to fall forward when you collapse so that your head can move up a few inches more. Have you American leaders had that kind of seriousness? All of you must repent because you were not serious enough. From this moment on, American leaders and members must take the road of shedding tears all day long for the sake of God and mankind. When that happens, you will be able to inherit what the Parents have and God's blessing for you.
If you are really faithful and serious to this way, you may look back later and tell yourself, "I was indifferent to the response of my wife and my children. I lost my common sense and because crazy at that time." This is the history of the Unification Church; it is the foundation you are standing on. I know this because I am the one who pioneered this path. Knowing these things, how can I just let you take it easy?
I still remember how harshly I treated my own son; that is the standard I should apply to every other Unification Church member. That was the harshest I could possibly be, so I apply this standard to all Unification Church members so that they will have no chance of failure. Everyone will obtain success. I can think about my first wife and child and say, "Because of you, I was able to establish the absolute criterion which was later able to save hundreds of lives of the Unification Church members. Therefore, I am grateful to you." That is the way I truly feel. I was not harsh to my wife so that later I could enjoy a good family; I wasn't concerned about that. I only did what I did for the sake of God and the future of mankind. I can be grateful.
The liberation of mankind and the liberation of God are more important to me than anything else. All Korean members must start shedding truly serious tears now. If America does not inherit that tradition, then no matter what you do you will have nothing to do with my tradition. Do you understand? This is serious. I will not live in America forever.
I have decided to launch a campaign during the next three years, during which I will plant God's tradition in the soil of America. How will you encounter God, who has been seeking after His lost children? Do you think you can just casually meet, like two strangers shaking hands and saying, "How do you do?" You must shed the deepest tears possible; only by such tears can God and the newly recovered people meet each other.
Therefore all leaders must weep for their areas, for the state they represent and serve. You must shed those tears in the place of God and for the sake of all unknowing mankind. If you did that, you wouldn't have to worry about witnessing; the people would come to you on their own. I had a very vivid experience during an intense time when I was deeply weeping for God and the future of mankind. Many people came to me directly, guided by spirit world. I didn't even go out to witness to them. I cried so much that those around me were worried about me. I disregarded eating and getting dressed. All I did was cry, so the people came to me and fed me and clothed me. This was the beginning of the Unification Church in Korea. People told me, "I will go out and witness for you, Father." That is the typical formula or pattern for the Unification Church.
The first step of the Christian faith is repentance. Since Adam and Eve fell with tears, we must cry again not for ourselves but for God and mankind. That is the beginning of the Christian faith. Those of you, who are native-born Americans, please raise your hands. Are you truly Americans? Is your country on the verge of perishing or prospering? Christianity once flourished here. Where are those Christians now? If some American people take on this responsibility for God, maybe America will survive. If you are willing to say, "No matter how difficult, I will take this way and I will do it until my death," America has hope.
What kind of decision have we arrived at today? We must reach a decision which will make God happy and comfortable. Who will liberate God's situation? Not everyone understands God's situation, but the Moonies know about it. Can you take care of God's situation? As long as you are taking that position of responsibility, the Unification Church is guaranteed to prosper.
We need more members of our church in this country, as you know. There are so many dens of prostitution and such things; they are multiplying rapidly. Who is going to put an end to this miserable situation? Reverend Moon, the one whom Americans hate so much, is the very one who is cleaning up the terrible moral problems here. Who cares the most about Christianity in America? The very person who is hated and persecuted so much by Americans. Reverend Moon is the only one who cares enough and is able to do something about crime, homosexuality and lesbianism, alcoholism, and all the social evils here.
Those young people who are becoming addicted to drugs are melting their own brains, like butter. They will not live very long, or if they do they will live like vegetables. Their numbers are increasing every year. Drugs are peddled on the city streets in broad daylight. Who in the world is going to put a stop to all this? Where does the trend of free sex originate? The movies, television and so on are stimulating it. Reverend Moon and the Unification Church members must stop these evils from influencing the morality of young people here. We must also put a stop to those gambling places, which trap people in another form of addiction.
Certainly American Christianity has the responsibility to stop all these evils, but are they actually capable of doing it? No, they have not been able to prevail over them. What about the communists? Will they do something to stop it? No, they will encourage the acceleration of evil here because they want to destroy America. Nobody has the power to stop communism here, either. Reverend Moon is the only one who is "insane" enough to say to America, "You must protect yourselves from communism or you will be in peril within a few years." Why do I do this? It is because these are the things, which are the origin of God's sorrow, the things, which stop mankind from becoming better.
Why do you think I matched black and white people in marriage? I knew this would be the source of great difficulties. Do you think I did it for the sake of fame or reputation? Certainly not. We are seeing the first stages of a racial confrontation, which is certain to come in the future unless the true religious spirit flourishes. Black and white people will fight against each other and so much blood will be shed. To prevent such an occurrence, I took the responsibility to bring black and white people together in marriage. This is the solution to those racial tensions.
Anyone with a reasonable mind will be able to see that what I have been doing all these years springs from a deep conviction and principle. Do you Unification Church members take this time casually? You have eyes and ears but do you hear the scream of this world, which is on the verge of dying? It is like a giant animal crying out in pain and agony. Your ears must be able to hear that cry.
Satan blinds people to their true condition and convinces them they are happy. To protect the world from further mistreatment from Satan, we must liberate the young people. Otherwise Satan will have the world in his hands, a world like a living corpse. Do you love America? Your love for America means nothing unless you take this task seriously. Only when you are serious about saving America can you truly say you love America.
When a cancer starts the victim hardly notices it. As it progresses, he notices it only a little bit. However that person will certainly die unless the cancer is stopped. America is in the same situation. I have been telling you American members that you cannot remain idle or indifferent. You cannot just think about your own life and your own family's blessing and going to Heaven eventually. What would be the difference between you and conventional Christianity?
Go out and appeal to the people, go to the governor; tell all of them what is happening to America. This is our mission to cry out and proclaim the truth. If they absolutely refuse to listen, then they are already buried by their sin. What else can you do? There is nothing else to do but burst into tears. At that point God will listen to your prayers. If you just pray calmly, God will not respond. If you pray while you are being persecuted and working hard, God will respond.
Today is a big day for Korean people. On March 1, 1919, Korea declared independence. Japan was occupying Korea and changing the language and culture, even changing the name of the country -- and the Korean people had no weapons except their fists. Still, they came out and proclaimed their independence.
A year ago today, the Washington Times began. On January 1, 1982, 200 people began the project and after only three months, the first newspaper rolled out. No one thought it would be possible or effective. They were thinking that even if we did print something, it would just go into the trashcans. However, the impossible was not only possible but also successful. I know that such an impossible miracle can only occur within the realm of principle.
What is the position of the Washington Times now, after one year? There are about 1750 daily newspapers in the country. Many times they write, "The Washington Times says... Many times newspapers attack the government's activities because the media is so leftist today. When something makes communism look good, they report that but not anything that makes the government look good. However, the Washington Times not only reports honestly about the good things that the government is doing but also they speak out against anything the government does which is wrong. The government actually appreciates such a stance. People in government have lost their positions because the Washington Times pointed out wrongdoing, which no one else was pointing out. Newspapers are powerful tools to be reckoned with.
Starting today on this occasion, we must decide to clear up all the misunderstanding of our own church leaders and make a brand new start toward establishing the genuine, correct tradition of God and True Parents in our church. How do you like that? For one thing, I would like to see Heavenly tears rolling out of those American blue eyes. Until now, I have seen only brown-eyed tears. When I see that, I can say, "How wonderful you Americans are."
The era of perfection does not come through laughter, joy and glee. Instead, we must go over the hill of misery and tears before we can bring in that era. This is the time for us to go through those tears and sorrow to accomplish that great era. By working this way, we will fulfill man's portion of responsibility, the restoration through indemnity. Only through shedding tears will the restoration through indemnity take place. Then we can move into the time of joy and laughter.
Home Church brings together all these elements. Although there will usually be a period of persecution in Home Church, after a reasonable period of time people will understand what we are trying to do. Gradually we will win their trust and expand their understanding. After those things happen, we will have completed the period of indemnity. You are being grafted into the True Parents' tree, then wherever you plant yourself you sprout up as the same tree as the True Parents. Your fertilizer comes from those people who oppose you; you need that fertilizer. Persecution is your fertilizer.
Do you welcome indemnity? The principle of indemnity requires that the smaller purpose be sacrificed for the larger one. The individual offers himself for the sake of the family, the family for the sake of the nation, and so forth. We must do this because it is the truthful way of restoration. No matter how long it takes and no matter who you are, you must go this way. We have church members who have been important in secular society, people with recognized ability and government positions, and so forth. When such people join, do they go to the front or the back of the line? If President Reagan someday joins the church, even he will be the last in the line. That will make you feel great because you will be in front of him! You will really feel you are somebody then! In the past, you may not have been very happy doing the things you were called upon to do; but from now on will you understand better and be happy, following me step by step along the same course? Will you be happy to do it? Is this the right or the wrong way to go?
We can conclude that doing the right thing is the happiest way to go. We have to remind ourselves of this as we follow the right way. It is not enough to just know what is right; we must do it. Do you want to do what is fight? Shall we march on? Those who pledge to do that, please raise your hands. God bless you.