Can you read the title I wrote on the board? You should be able to read Korean before long. Who is protecting us? Yes, it is our Heavenly Father. Those who are gathered here are called Unification Church members. How old is the Unification Church? It is fairly young, about the same age as some of the church members. The Unification Church has grown along with you. Even though the physical age of our church is not great, our background is as immense as history itself.

Due to ignorance, people have been suffering and struggling throughout history. Human beings have not known where they came from or where they were going. They have continually raised questions but have found very few answers. All they could do was hope, wait, and suffer. Now, within the short time since the Unification Church was born, mankind has come to know everything- where we came from, where we are going, and what the future has in store for us. This is truly amazing.

We now understand the purpose of human history very clearly: It is to produce perfected or completed human beings. Yet, since the creation, no person has reached perfection. What is a perfected man? We include both man and woman when we say "man." Each person has a mind and a body which are supposed to unite. The mind and body are born at the same time, but they must grow together into unity, becoming one when the person achieves maturity.

Does the degree of perfection differ between men and women, or is it the same? You say it is the same, but in what way? We talk about oneness between men and women, but there is only one way that can happen. The perfection of a man is achieved when he and a woman are in perfect harmony. When a man is perfected, he automatically needs a subject and object relationship. Why? It is because he wants to achieve love.

If we want to explain the human purpose, we can do it rather simply: Man is born to achieve perfection through unity between his mind and body, and after that to seek his object. Subject and object become one in love. Love is the common object between men and women. To repeat: Mind and body become one and seek a spouse. Husband and wife must become perfectly one in love. That is the purpose of human beings.

Now we can talk about love. Who is the master of love? We are created beings; we are not the creator. Therefore, we cannot be the masters of love. When we find love, we should seek further to find the origin or cause of love. The origin of our love is God's love.

Should God's love come down to us, or should our love go up to meet Him? In order to situate himself firmly, the subject needs to stay in one place. The subject should not move around as much as the object. When God is standing in the center, how should man approach Him? Man should revolve around God. God's movements are central and pivotal for the purpose of maintaining harmony.

In his vertical relationship with God, should man revolve around God like an acrobat? Love achieves its variety by combining different movements. The relationship between man and woman is a limited, horizontal one. East and West cannot meet vertically, only horizontally. Thus when a man and woman achieve horizontal unity, the vertical relationship has to come down right in the middle of them. They cannot achieve oneness with God with random, acrobatic movements.

In summary, the only way for the horizontal and vertical relationships to become one is for East and West to move to the center perfectly and meet at the right point. The vertical relationship then descends. That is the only way the three points can meet.

At what point should a mature, perfected man and woman meet? Right at the center. As man grows, God's hope and expectation also grows. When He comes down to meet man and woman, they form an axis which is bound to revolve. It is not going to stand still but spins around very rapidly. It does not spin away but stays in place. The axis should not move in either direction. It has to keep right at the center.

Man wants to live that way and woman does, too. God wants it as well. What do they all want at the same time? Yes, it is true love. First we need a man and a woman to fulfill that true love. Then we need a straight axis for the revolution of love. What is that straight axis? It is the children who bring this unity about and make the vertical connection. Adam, Eve, and God all want children.

Now here we come to a very important conclusion: The only way to achieve this straight line-and it must be straight-is for the children to cherish the parents over themselves. Similarly, the parents must love the children more than themselves. This is the only way the vertical line can be perfectly straight. Every point wants to connect to that dependable axis center. Centering on this, they maintain eternal relationships, never spinning away or getting lost.

History will continue in harmony forever by the continuation of this straight line of descendants. It is immense, unending. As the line grows longer, the whole realm becomes more and more vast.

American women, do you understand this point? In the American culture, the chief emphasis is on the relationship between men and women. People don't care about the center line we have been discussing. They aren't focused on the relationship between parents and children. Eventually they will refuse to recognize the axis line at all. They will say, "I don't need God. All I need is my husband or wife. We are okay." That is because they don't know this principle. They just spin out into the periphery.

God recognizes, needs and cherishes the relationship of true love. Adam also needs and cherishes and upholds it very carefully. So do Eve and the children. Since this is the law of creation and the original design, our mind and body find this situation very agreeable. Why, without anybody directing them, do boys and girls grow up and want to get married? It is because they instinctively want to fulfill this purpose for which they were born.

Everybody wants to find happiness; that is everyone's goal. Who is a happy woman? She is the woman who has God, a loving husband and loving children, and who lives through this axis. Once you go through that center line, you can go in any direction, you can travel wherever your curiosity leads. When you achieve this center point, you can go to all 360 degrees; it is all your domain. Indeed, such a woman will be happy. In true love, you can go anywhere and have anything you desire.

Another way of describing true love is that it makes God, man, woman, and children settle down happily. That is ideal true love. Why are we sad when our parents are away? We were designed that way. When we lack this ideal relationship, we naturally yearn for it and are sorrowful. Why is a woman sorrowful if her husband dies? It is because she was destined to achieve true love together with her spouse. Because she is lacking what she was made for, she is unhappy.

There are some happily married couples who are without children. Therefore, they are sad and feel they are missing something very important. Why? It is because they are supposed to have children. When a person is 100 percent fulfilled-supported by all these elements-then the power of the universe protects their situation.

What about a person who is 90 percent perfected? That means he is lacking 10 percent, so the universe will push him out of the center, saying, "You must live 10 percent off to the side." Therefore, he hurts that much. What if the person is only 80 percent perfect? Then he lacks 20 percent. If he is only 20 percent perfect and 80 percent imperfect, that is a staggering amount and the universe will chase him far away. He will be crying out in pain.

Since God operates by the Principle, He has certain criteria. He says, "This is the standard which you must meet. If you do, the universe will cherish you. If you do not, you will not be able to dwell at the center and you will feel that much pain."

Man is meant to grow up in happiness and join with his spouse with God at their center. Then their children are born. The first generation, man and woman, attain unity centering on God. The second generation does the same. God stays here at the central, pivotal point. The third generation, the grandchildren, must also become one with God. Thus God remains at the pivotal, axis point.

When the three generations live together, who should be the center? The center of attention should be the axis point of God. This point serves as a center for all three.

If someone has dominion over this point, he can call his grandmother at any time, no matter what she may be doing. "Grandma, come here. I want you here." Grandma is always happy to come. The same is true of Grandpa. Once you get to that point, you can own everything. Nobody will protest. You will be welcomed anywhere you go.

Now you know the answer to these kinds of questions: Should you send your elderly parents to a nursing home? Should a woman discard her husband if, for some reason, she feels he doesn't suit her? Should you divorce? No. Mankind never knew this before, but divorce is similar to the act of abortion. Staying married creates the possibility for the fulfillment of all these goals, but divorce breaks down every possibility, destroying the parents, the children, and the ideal.

Ask your original mind: Should you divorce your spouse? Ask your children whether they want you to divorce. What about your parents? Ask them if they would like you to divorce. Nobody wants to go through divorce. The one who is pursuing a divorce will feel sad, but if he doesn't realize the seriousness of the issue, he will go ahead and sign the paper.

The one who has a claim over the center point of love can go anywhere in the universe and be welcomed. That is happiness. We can even approach the very throne of God and He will welcome us. You are then entitled to do anything or say anything to God and He will be pleased. Somebody might be very envious and ask, "Tell me, what is your secret?" Then you can proudly whisper, "It is ideal true love. If you have that, you can be like me, too." Is that happiness or unhappiness?

Everything in the universe is ruled by unbending law. For example, we have to meet the rigid conditions of physical law in order to make a machine work. The same is true of love. We think, "Oh, love is easy. It's not bound by laws. You can do anything you want and still God will be happy." But that is not true. God has a rigid standard. Unless God has a precise rule of love, just like the physical laws, how can anything be controlled? How can there be harmony?

Let's say someone is off-center somehow and yet expects to be treated as if he were right at the center. No matter how hard he wishes, God must say no to him because the center is absolute.

Let's see if this is true. Take the example of an unmarried woman. She may be very attractive, but she is still a spinster. Perhaps she finds all of God's rules agreeable except that she doesn't want to get married. Have you ever seen any woman who is so beautiful that she is satisfied just with herself? Looking in the mirror, she caresses her cheek and says, "I'm so happy with myself." Can you imagine such a woman? No one can find happiness that way. Such a woman will have another problem as well. Even though she may never want to get married, she will want to have a child. You in the audience laugh at this because you understand such a feeling, right?

Even the most eccentric woman will want to enjoy a relationship with her parents. She doesn't want to be an orphan. What makes her desire having children and parents? It is logical. Every person is designed from birth to grow and experience these different relationships, all the way up to the relationship with God Himself.

What is an ideal man? He is a man who is welcomed by everyone in his family. He could go to his grandparents' bedroom at night and be invited to rest there. He can go to his wife's room any time he wants and she is only too glad to see him. The children have no objections to him sleeping in their room. A man with that kind of welcome is an ideal man.

Let's say the ideal man is just quietly sitting here. Is he lonely? No, his grandmother will want to come and stay with him. She feels drawn to be with him because he makes her feel happy. His wife prefers to be with him than with anyone else. The children also want to be with their father wherever he goes. Everybody wants to be around that man, so he is a kind of center. If you want to meet everybody else, you know where to find them-near that ideal man.

What is your concept of an ideal man? I suspect you have thousands of different ways of describing him. But compare your descriptions to what I have just said. Who is more ideal-what I have described, or what you may have thought? Suppose that ideal man is right here, so that is where the axis of love is.

Do you think somebody has to call and make an appointment before he can go to see the ideal man? That's the way you do it here in America, don't you? Some Americans make agreements far in advance to visit each other at certain times. But day or night, evening or morning, the ideal man and woman can go to see one another.

(Father says something to Mother and she responds.) I just asked Mother if she is the ideal woman and I am the ideal man. The ideal man may not even come into a room face first. He might come in backside first, but he would still be very welcomed by his wife.

Which concept would you like to adopt for the rest of your life-your opinion of the ideal man, or the description I have given you today? That means you have to become like that.

We started out speaking about the Divine Principle and thanking God for His protection. Actually, we have digressed, but it was enjoyable. When I leave the United States, does your mind travel to Korea, or do you think about this country exclusively? You imagine where I am and what I am doing in Korea. When I am away from this country, it feels empty to you, regardless of how many other people are here. Since your center is gone, you feel aimless.

The title of my sermon this morning is, "Thank You for Protecting Us." In order to be protected, what position should we be in? We need and welcome all levels of protection. If my entire family protects me, I'm much happier than if only my spouse protects me. Better yet, if the whole clan protects me, I am even more secure. If the whole nation protects me, so much the better. And so on to the whole universe and God. When God's personal protection is upon me, there is nothing more to ask. That is the happiest state. How do we come to deserve that protection?

There are all kinds of people around us. There are elderly folks who remind you of your grandparents. There are people who are similar to your parents. There are those who are like your wife or husband. There are many children who look like or seem like one's own. As I explained earlier, if we have the attitude of loving all people as our own grandparents, parents, spouses or children, wouldn't we be protected? All of nature would protect such a person.

We have described three essential levels of relationship-parents, self and children. The parental level includes the grandparents. If you are the kind of person who can love all levels and age groups, the universe will truly protect you. That makes sense, doesn't it?

I am an Asian and you are Westerners. Different races and cultures have often been antagonistic, but for some reason you always like to be around me. Why do you feel good being near me? People of all races like Reverend Moon. Why is that? You like the ideal man, right? Germany is a nation which has been particularly hostile toward me. I went to a restaurant in Germany where I observed a very old, ugly woman eating a meal at a nearby table. My imagination started working. In my mind's eye, I saw her eating a big bowl of Korean noodles. Do you know how people eat Korean noodles? You can't eat just one bite at a time. You suck on the noodles and half goes into your mouth and half comes back into the bowl again. You keep on sucking on the noodles until your bowl is empty. I imagined that this ugly old woman was eating such noodles and that I went over and started eating out of the same bowl with her. Whatever came out of her mouth and back into the bowl, I ate. I asked myself, "Could I do such a thing?" Then I told myself, "Absolutely. I could and I would." If I really did such a thing, that woman would have felt permanently attached to me. I know that I would have made her want to be near me.

When I first came to the United States and observed the people with their pale skin, blue eyes, and blonde hair, it was, in a word, strange. Everything was unfamiliar to me. The way the people responded to me was even more strange. My only real experience with people had been with Orientals. I asked myself, "Am I ever going to be able to love these people as much as I love the Koreans? Will I love them like my own family, my own father and mother?" I really challenged and pushed myself to appreciate these unfamiliar white Westerners.

I knew that there was only one way to make friends with the people here, and that was to truly cherish them. I determined to treat each person like God. I look at someone and think, "That person was born to be a daughter of God," and then I treat her accordingly. That is a practical lesson for you. If you are walking down the street and pass someone and think, "Ugh, I hate to be near that man," then you must get rid of such a feeling. If you feel hatred for some person because he is old, or rude, or unattractive, or for whatever reason, you must make a point to do something good for him. Buy him some gift or do something special for him. You must erase that feeling toward him. If you don't do that immediately and you just forget about it, it will take you a whole year to get over the effect of that hatefulness.

The American people have continuously persecuted me and attacked my reputation. No ordinary person would have remained on American soil for so long. It would have been unbearable. As you know, American people do not tend to think on a long-term basis. They thought, "If we really give Reverend Moon a hard time, he will leave. That would be fine." But I have tried very hard to love them, and I am able to remain here in spite of all I have endured.

Even though I am not protected by the American people, the universe is protecting me. You American Moonies, seeing the way this nation treats me, should feel really indignant and say, "I will love Father 100 times more than they mistreat him." Do you feel that way? At the same time, you should never hate the American people who are treating me unjustly. Even though you don't feel like loving them, you must try. Otherwise, the country will simply drop away from God's course. Nobody wants that to happen.

What type of person does God cherish? God loves the person who cares about the whole world more than his own household and family. As we can imagine, no pain is greater than being hated by someone you love. Isn't that true? I love Americans even though they have not responded well to me. In fact, as much as I love them, they hate me. Why do I tolerate their hatred? One thought which helps motivate me is, "If I can persevere and survive this, there will be a reward as big as the whole universe. Within that universe will be all those people who are hating me now." That is God's wish. When God sees His son being mistreated, He can say, "Just wait. You will receive the entire universe soon enough." That is the gift God wants to give His son.

Our axiom always works: By being beaten, we recover all the lost people and property of God. In my early tours around the United States, I tried my very best to give everything to the American people. With love, I have invested all my resources. That is something Satan can never take away. America cannot ignore all the things I am doing for her. The heart of love which originates with God is untouchable by Satan, and I have always known this.

After the years of persecution and all our efforts to reach the American people, we are now seeing the fruits. Many people, particularly those in conservative organizations, have come to recognize my contributions. You aren't even aware of a lot of these things. Some people who opposed me fiercely in the past have shed tears of regret and said, "I really love you, Reverend Moon."

Throughout all this time, nobody seemed to be protecting me, yet I survived. How? The universe was protecting me. And who protects the universe? God. What protects God Himself? It is ideal love. Since He is absolutely destined to get His ideal love back, He protects Himself and keeps on working to recover it. Even if we visit Hell, as long as we apply the Principle, the people in Hell will be raised up all the way to Heaven.

The person who gets closer to God and achieves the highest place in spirit world is the one who lives this standard to the utmost degree. By normal secular standards, I should have perished long ago due to the abuse and opposition I have received from all quarters.

Suppose someone is trying to love and serve other people, and someone else is opposing and persecuting him. Who ultimately gets pushed away? It is the one who rejects others, the one who pushes others away. That is how the law of the universe works. The persecutors pushed and finally put the persecuted one into jail, thinking they were victorious at last. But soon they saw that the one who was jailed soared to a sky-high position, much greater than before, while the persecutors were descending.

When I was put into Danbury prison, people thought, "Now the Unification Church is finished." But was that the case? Not at all. We became tremendously stronger. The rate that America has changed in the last three years is staggering. The world has many problems. Mr. Gorbachev and Mr. Reagan are no exceptions; in fact, they have bigger problems than others. But all of them, somehow, are leaning toward me, trying to get a response: "How would you propose to solve this problem?"

The world is very confused and complicated, but there is actually a rather simple solution. It is a formula law, one which always works. We can utilize it to solve any question. Is this a relatively easy way or a difficult one? It is very easy. Some of you answered "easy" and others said "difficult." For those who are willing to apply this law no matter what, even to the point of giving up your life, this is a very easy solution. But those who feel, "I want to preserve myself no matter what," will find this a very difficult solution.

This has already been said by Jesus in the Bible: "Those who are willing to lose their life will find it, and those who want to save their life will lose it." People may say, "That makes no sense at all," but it is a paradox which makes a lot of sense. It always applies.

I have now been speaking for one-and-a-half hours. During that time, I have described in simple terms the core formula by which the entire universe can be changed from negativity to positivity. Where is this formula? Is it in some ivory tower of a great university? Is it in some foreign land? No, it is all around us in our daily life. We don't have to travel even one step to find it; it is with us. If we don't live this way of life, we will create hell on earth. If we live this way, however, we will create Heaven. We will liberate God and all mankind as well. This is an amazing discovery. If you live this way and it doesn't work, you can come and complain to me.

You are very intelligent people. What do you think- will this really work? I have been persecuted continuously, and most people thought that I would never amount to anything. But look at me today. Now I can liberate any person, any nation, any circumstance. I can move forward unhindered. Everybody has to make way because of the universal principle.

We know now that our struggle is mainly on the internal level, not the external. You say, "I must fight within myself and win there. Then winning other people will be relatively easy." According to Jesus, where is Heaven and where is hell? They are right within each person, inside your heart.

If you take these words and put them to work, being willing to give your life to achieve them, you will be truly successful people. But if you continue to live according to past standards, just like everybody else in the world, then your path will carry you straight to hell. You should have absolute confidence that you will be protected as you adhere to this principle. On all levels-the individual, family, clan, nation and so on-we will be protected by God and the universe. The making of Heaven is guaranteed. With this absolute confidence, we will march forward. This is the promise and blessing I give you this morning.

It is entirely up to you whether you conform to this formula or you ignore it. If you don't fulfill it, there is no sense in talking; talking is a waste of time. Do it, then talk about it. Do you understand now? This is my great secret. People ask me, "Father, what is the source of your stamina? How have you achieved so much under impossible persecution?" This is my formula and you can have it, too, because you are the children. Wherever you go, regardless of the circumstances, God is always stronger. If a billion people oppose you, God is stronger than they. So we must be most thankful to God.

The first step is to know yourself; then you can change for the better. You must know today that you are receiving a failing grade. But knowing that, you will be able to try harder and achieve a passing grade. Do you pledge, "No matter what the cost, Father, I swear I will do it"? If so, raise your hands. Great. God bless you.

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