The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1986
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The Words of Sun Myung Moon from 1986 |
Father
speaks to the American clergymen at the Little Angels School on May
15, with Dr. Bo Hi Pak translating.
Each one of you here is an experienced preacher, and as you know, a public speech is not that easy. It is sometimes uncomfortable, not because of the audience, but because of many pressures such as time. You all know that very well, so I am addressing a very sympathetic audience.
I am Rev. Moon. Here I am, standing before you; you can examine me very carefully. I am the point of controversy in the media and in many arenas of public debate. I am sure when you were invited to Korea by this Unification movement you thought, "Oh no, now I'm being drafted into a brainwashing courser." Well, let me ask you honestly: As you're nearing graduation, what do you think? Was your experience very valuable? Have you benefited from the tour? (Much applause.)
We are all ministers of God. We are dealing with two cosmic worlds: One is the spiritual world; the other is the physical world. We are the ones whose job it is to harmonize spiritual matter and earthly matter and bring the two together into the reality of life.
How can we truly bring two such universes into one workable harmony? What would be the key factor? Would money bring the two worlds together? (No!) Would knowledge bring them together? (No!) What about power and authority? (No!) What power can bring these two worlds together? (Love!) (God!) You answered correctly; you're A+ students.
Through experience I know in my very bones that no ordinary love, but only true love -- which is God's love -- can bring these two worlds together. That is the reality. For whom does such love exist? It exists for the sake of man and for the sake of God. Then the ultimate question is: How can we become one with almighty God?
Limited as we are, we must find out how we can become one with the Almighty. Certainly a true or real human being can become one with Him. Then what is the definition of that real human being? It is the man or woman who embodies true love. I don't think any one of you in this audience can raise any question or doubt about that. Beyond your color, creed, or religious persuasion, I'm sure you can agree with me that true love is what brings us together with the Almighty.
Another key question today is this: Can human beings be perfected? Can we become perfect men and women? If the answer ultimately is no, that is tragic. If we believe that no matter how much we try we will always end up in tragedy, because there is no room for perfection, then we cannot have true hope.
What is the Kingdom of Heaven? The Kingdom of Heaven is the place where the men and women of perfection shall dwell for eternity. When we talk about perfection, we are talking about the perfection of love between men and women.
It must be God's plan to realize His ideal upon the face of the earth. I do believe that men and women are endowed with the potential for perfection. Men and women are going to be His almighty instrument. I didn't say we are all perfect, but we're given the potential for perfection; and God is trying to help us realize that potential so we can all become one with Him.
As a custom we shake hands when we meet and when we part; but do we truly meet each other with perfected love, and part with that same love? Do we practice the kind of true love at home that was God's vision from day one, when He created men and women? Has such an example ever existed? This is a question that needs to be addressed.
I do know one thing: God needs nothing other than love. He does not need power; He does not need money; He does not need knowledge; He's got them all. He has the power and the resources and the knowledge to create and maintain the universe. Yet I do know that God has been seeking that single, critical element that can perfect everything else -- true love. He has not yet obtained that true love. This is not because of any lack in Himself, but because of the imperfection of man. You cannot consummate love by yourself; love needs a circuit. It can only impart its power when you have someone to love and rely upon. And just like love, happiness and peace require a circuit of give and take between two. It is the same with God. God has been looking for a partnership of love. God needs someone to relate to in love; He wants to be glorified by an object so He can feel joy. That object is man.
What I am relating to you tonight is not merely a theory; it comes directly from my experience. I have had many incredible spiritual encounters. I myself entered into the spirit world. Do you know what you breathe in the spirit world? It is not air. You breathe the atmosphere of love. You breathe love for the rest of your life, for eternity. However, the atmosphere of love we are talking about is an atmosphere of true, pure love.
In the earthly world today there exist many kinds of love. Perverted love, filthy love, dirty love, selfish love -- all kinds of love that do not at all resemble the love of God. Yet in the highest spirit world there is only pure love, true love. This is what we call the perfection of love.
Are you sure you will go to the highest heaven of all? I know every one of you feels confident, but this is a very serious question facing humanity.
God created men and women for a reason. In order for a man to perfect his love he needs a woman, and for a woman to perfect her love she needs a man. We need each other. We should remember, though, that we have not yet accomplished the goal of becoming the temples of God. Because of the fall, mankind is now in what we call the fallen state, which is deviated from the original ideal. We need to return to our original state. Once we return we will become the most holy creatures under the sun, beautiful men and women -- the perfected temples of God.
Since men and women lost that perfect state they have tried to raise up for themselves the symbol of a perfected temple of God. As you know, when the Israelites entered into the land of Canaan, they brought with them the tabernacle, which was a symbolic temple. Actually, God did not intend a material object but rather human beings to be the perfection of the temple of God. Men and women are to be elevated to the holy place where people can love and honor each other instead of a physical temple. Human beings shall become living temples of God; that is their ultimate goal. I may be saying these things too bluntly for want of enough time to explain in depth; furthermore, you may already know this and practice this since you are all ministers of God, but this is my testimony.
We all know that mankind needs a savior. However, what is the definition of a savior? We as men and women don't love each other with the true love of God. Therefore, the ultimate salvation of mankind is to restore true love to men and women. The man who comes to restore that true love is the savior, the Messiah.
Jesus Christ was the Messiah. Jesus Christ was the personification of the spirit and true love of God. For that reason he was the savior. However -- and what I am about to say will probably affect you, and because of it I have been persecuted my entire life -- Jesus Christ was a man. God's ideal, as we know, is perfect love, and therefore Jesus needed a partnership of love. Jesus was a man of perfection, a true man, and his mission was to restore a true woman; in his time there was the possibility of such a great partnership. That was the same as what God had intended in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve.
Think about it. Jesus was physically and spiritually a perfect man as God had originally intended in the Garden of Eden. Suppose he had been in a position to become a bridegroom, not symbolically but truly a bridegroom; and suppose he had taken a bride and together they had created a new lineage of their own, a new bloodline of humanity. Do you think God would have been displeased because of that? I don't think so. What if Jesus' descendants had multiplied like the stars in the heavens and the sands on the beach? Do you think God would have been displeased? In the sight of God, one true descendent of Jesus would be of far greater value than all the multitudes of people here on earth combined. God was delighted to see his true son Jesus. Didn't He also want to see His true grandchildren and His true great-grandchildren? Think about it.
True love makes us all equal. In love there is no higher or lower, there is no greater or lesser. Everyone will participate in the same glory in the name of true love. Once we participate in true love we all become great. Take President Reagan for example. The First Lady has come to be honored and respected and loved by the multitudes worldwide and treated on an equal level with President Reagan. By what power has she accomplished that? By the power of love. Love unites her with her husband and for that reason they are treated equally. Therefore, love makes us equal.
Also, love can be inherited and passed on from generation to generation. In accordance with this principle I can say that once we unite with the true love of God, once we become one with the Almighty, we can participate in His glory. Furthermore, we are in a position to inherit His Kingdom because we become His children. His children shall have the power to rule His Kingdom. We are endowed in our hearts with ambition to seek the greatest things in life. Each one of us strives for something higher and our ambition never ends. We want to strive further and further without stopping until we reach the ultimate -- the true love of God. For that reason each one of you here on earth lives with that aspiration, to reach the highest level possible.
Furthermore, in order to find eternal life we must become one with the eternal being, which is God. We can have everlasting life and achieve immortality but only by uniting with immortality. We must become the objects of God. God is the subject of love. We are the objects of the love of God. These two can never be separated.
You may still ask, "Who is Rev. Moon? He's a mystery to me." Actually, I'm absolutely nobody. I don't know much, but one thing I do know is that every cell in my body, every drop of my blood, every drop of my sweat, and every ounce of my energy is exclaiming and crying out with joy over one thing -- I know God and His true love. I experience His love to my bone.
Love is infinite. True love is engendered by giving love. True love means that you give and give and give, and you do not ask for anything in return, and still you want to give; and even if you go on like this for eternity you will never run out of love.
I would like to draw to a conclusion. It is within the realm of possibility that we can achieve oneness with God and the perfection of love; otherwise God cannot be almighty. There is a potential for perfection within us. All we have to worry about is how to perfect our love. In true love you don't have to worry about inviting God in; He will be with you already. Where is heaven? Jesus said heaven is in the midst of you. Once you become a person with the love of Jesus, heaven is already there.
Jesus taught us to love our enemies. I am not only preaching that particular message from Jesus but I'm trying to live up to that statement. I'm even trying to love entire countries who are my enemies.
I want to thank you for standing up for me when I was in Danbury. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I want you to know that I do not hate the United States of America, the country that prosecuted me and put me in jail without any reason. I still love America. I created so many organizations in order to save America. Today I'm in Korea but most of my work is still being done in the United States. I am trying to save that great nation of America for the sake of all humanity.
In this seminar for American clergy you may have listened to many lectures and testimonies. You can forget them all, but there is one thing you should not forget: Rev. Moon is trying to build a nation of true love so that the Kingdom of Heaven can be built in our society and in our world. Then your church will prosper, your nation will be blessed, and the world will become the Kingdom of Heaven on earth.
This is my greeting and my message to you today. Thank you very much.