This is from a sermon delivered on October 7, 2001 at the Washington, DC. church

We cannot help but think of the significance of the tragic events that occurred on September 11. Close to 7,000 young people from all over the world were suddenly killed at that moment. When that incident occurred, we were at the 43rd St. Headquarters Building in a meeting, planning for the Blessing of September 22. True Parents would come 8 days later, but 7 days before they would come the entire country was in confusion. No one knew what to do.

I’m sure you all saw on television the film showing how the World Trade Center collapsed. Every time I saw that I thought to myself that anything that man builds is not eternal, not so strong. I felt the lives of thousands of people being taken away at that moment. From the moment of that incident until the moment that the postponement of the Blessing was decided we were extremely busy, day and night.

I immediately reported the situation to True Parents in Alaska. At that time True Parents were holding Hoondokhae. I reported through a memo passed to True Parents by Rev. Peter Kim. For the following three days True Parents did not join the members there for Hoondokhae. Instead, for those three days Father remained by himself and prayed. He did not appear in public. I heard later through a report that True Parents felt a truly deep heart of sorrow for America and for the people who were involved in the incident.

The ministers of ACLC went to Ground Zero that evening. Bishop J, Bishop Stallings, Rev. Michael Jenkins, Rev. Levy Daugherty and others—the central ministers of ACLC, went to pray for the people who had been taken from us and also to help the people who were there. The City of New York issued special ID cards to the clergy so that they could go into areas that were not otherwise accessible, in order to perform their functions as clergy.

Because this was the World Trade Center, people from many countries were involved: some reports said 60 countries, others said 80. I heard that 206 people from Columbia were killed and 96 were killed from Saudi Arabia, and that more than 500 Arabic people were killed. Some people looking at this externally might say that this represents some conflict between the United States and the Arab world but there is much larger significance. I would like to think with you today about how we are to understand this incident, as people who are studying the Will of God and are trying to accomplish the Will of God in our lives. Of course, I think the most accurate answer would have to come from True Parents themselves.

We are all American citizens but we know that the ideology, the philosophy that we are living by transcends America and encompasses the entire world. I think we must look at this from a more universal perspective and learn from this and think of how we must live our lives in America. I think we can look at this incident from two aspects. One is the external, political point of view. I don’t think I need to go into this here today. This is something that a lot of political commentators from around the world have been discussing at length.

Simply speaking, this attack is also a challenge to America’s position of power and dominance in the world. For people who are born in America, raised in America and who have lived only in America, it is very easy to look at this only from the point of view of the United States. But I think in order to understand this incident more accurately we must transcend America and look at what is going on between America and the Middle East from a broad point of view, climbing up to a higher level to gain a better perspective.

Why did this kind of incident occur after the end of the Cold War? During the Cold War I dealt with many leftist students and debated with them about their anti-American philosophies and through that experience I have a little bit of understanding about the philosophy of those who are opposed to the United States. The anti-Americanism in the Islamic world, of the Islamic extremists, is much stronger than I experienced in Korea. I think that one aspect, the internal aspect- the root of this incident, lies in the Palestinian problem, where the United States, which is trying to save Israel, confronts the Arab world, which is supporting the Palestinian cause.

The Islamic fundamentalists, the Islamic extremists, look at the United States and Israel as one. I believe that their thought was to strike the World Trade Center, which gives economic aid to Israel, and strike the Pentagon, which gives military aid to Israel. So we must think that although externally this appears to be a political action, internally it has its roots in religious ideas.

Samuel Huntington who wrote The Clash of Civilizations has come out after the incident saying that this is not the kind of clash of civilization that he was talking about in his book, but that it is, in a certain sense, a conflict between the Christian sphere and the Islamic sphere. Another source of anti-Americanism in the Islamic world is the fact that for the last 11 years after the Gulf War, America has had soldiers in Saudi Arabia, which is a country that has two of the three holiest places of Islam: Mecca and Medina.

About two years ago, Osama bin Laden said in an interview that in the 21st century there will be inevitable conflict between the Christian civilization and the Islamic civilization. In particular, after Ariel Sharon became Prime Minister of Israel the conflict over the Palestinian problem has become worse. Sharon was a key figure in the Israeli invasion in Lebanon in 1983, etc., so from the Islamic extremists’ point of view he is an enemy who cannot be forgiven.

An Arabian newspaper published in Saudi Arabia asked the following question: Why do Arab terrorists conduct such crazy, barbaric activities? Because the United States and Israel have made Arabs go mad… have made them crazy. It has been 50 years since the United States and Israel chased the Palestinians out of their land and 33 years since the Six-day War, in which they took over the "occupied" territories. These actions have made the Arab terrorists crazy, the paper maintains.

I have gone to Ground Zero several times, to see the place where 7000 people died. to I cannot describe to you how painful it was to stand there and smell the burned bodies and to pray there through the night. I also prayed at the temporary morgue where the recovered bodies, and the body-parts recovered from the site were taken.

What is the meaning of this death? What is the meaning of this great massacre? Who did this? Was it bin Laden? I don’t think so. Bin Laden cannot be the chief instrument in this instance. There must be someone behind him again. Someone has "hired" him. If we go all the way back, it is Satan or the remnants of Satan, not Satan himself. So here there were 19 instruments of Satan, and those 19 have brought about this incredible situation.

True Parents hate terrorism. Terrorism is an ideology, and an ideology is spiritual.

Behind this there is some spiritual force. The terrorists are the tools of this force. They are tools of the Devil. So if those tools are eliminated will that spirit be eliminated? No, it won’t. It will still be there.

One leader in the Arab world said: "Don’t be angry that the World Trade Center has been destroyed. Don’t you realize that one and a half million innocent civilians in Lebanon have been killed and the beautiful land of Lebanon has been destroyed?" Iraq right now is completely sealed off except for a land connection to Jordan. There are 7.5 million refugees in Afghanistan and they are on the verge of death.

I really respect President Bush for the great leadership that he has exhibited following this "incident." In the beginning he said that he was going to wipe out all the countries that supported terrorism and all the terrorists in the world through military force. But later, by waiting patiently, he narrowed the target to those who were actually responsible. On the other hand, he is committing hundreds of millions of dollars to help the refugees in Afghanistan. I think it is very wise of the President that he is waiting and that he is bringing the UN into this so that the United Nations can take the lead in getting rid of terrorists in the world and not the United States alone. Let’s give a hand to the President of the United States for his wisdom and the courage in his leadership. [everyone applauds]

Perhaps we can talk more about the external and political implications at some later time and occasion. Maybe we can ask Bill Gertz to speak since he can give a more accurate report on the subject than I.

I would like to go on to the internal aspect and how we are to understand this from a providential point of view. That is our mission and our responsibility. We have heard that human history is the history of struggle between good and evil. After the incident, when I went to the place and prayed, and saw what was going on, for a period of time I could not understand what was going on. I struggled very much to understand: what was the significance of the fact that these tall and beautiful buildings had suddenly collapsed and become Ground Zero? What was the significance and meaning of the cries of the many people who were killed there instantly?

I met many volunteers who were working there. Many of them had experienced one of their own relatives or friends dying there. All the firehouses in New York and New Jersey have photographs displayed of their compatriots that died there. And all the churches in the area have members or relatives of members that died. There has been an ongoing funeral atmosphere in New York and New Jersey.

Where did the first act of terrorism take place in human history? Who was the first terrorist in human history? Cain! Cain is the beginning of terrorism. Who planted the seed of terror in Cain? Adam, Eve and the Archangel. Cain was controlled by the evil spirit through the Archangel and through the fall of Adam and Eve.

All human beings are the descendants of Adam and Eve, the fallen Adam and Eve. Two thousand biblical years after Adam and Eve, Isaac and Ishmael came in the Cain and Abel positions of that period. We know about the conflict between Isaac and Ishmael through the record in the Bible. And we can trace the conflict between Judeo-Christianity and Islam by going back to this conflict between these two sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, born to two different women.

We can learn from this the importance of the role of the woman, who is in the position of mother. Eve, in the Garden of Eden, was supposed to procreate the seed of God, but by falling with the Archangel, eventually Eve brought about the fall of Adam. And Cain was the son who came from that lineage. Eve did not perform her responsibility to become true parents together with Adam and have children who were to be princes and princesses of God.

Abraham’s wife was Sarah. We see in the Bible that before Abraham had Isaac through Sarah, he first had Ishmael through a maidservant. Sarah kicked out Ishmael’s mother Hagar. Sarah was not able to stand in a position to love Hagar and Ishmael because Hagar had actually performed the function of wife and mother before Sarah was able to. She should have been able to love Hagar.

God promised to protect Hagar and Ishmael after they were kicked out. But the envy and jealousy of one woman and the conflict between these two women eventually brought about the situation where the two sons were in conflict with each other. This was another example of failure in mother and son cooperation. It wasn’t until the situation between Esau and Jacob, when Rebekkah, their mother, helped Jacob regain the birthright from Esau. That was the first example of successful cooperation between mother and son.

So then, where is the beginning, the origin point of America? The satanic world knows this very well. As the Arab extremists say: The root of Israel and America is the same. In terms of mission, they are one. The Jews were the first Israel and the United States of America is the second Israel. It is responsible to restore through indemnity the failure of the first Israel. In his recent 50-State tour, Father emphasized that the United States is the Elder Son nation. It is the Second Israel.

After Jesus’ death on the cross God prepared Christianity as the realm of the Second Israel. This year during the 50-State tour, and even before that, at the January 13th Coronation Ceremony of God’s Kingship, Father said for the first time that this realm now is represented by a specific nation, the United States of America. Even before that actually, in May of last year when Father established the ACLC and 120 ministers were named to represent the 120 elders that should have become one with Jesus, Father told them this. Standing in the position of Bridegroom, Father gave gold watches to each of those ministers. He told them it was their mission to become one with True Parents and that they should accomplish the mission of Second Israel.

Father has come as the person responsible for the Third Israel, in the position of parents. So the failure of the first Israel must be restore through indemnity by the second Israel. And we can see the answer to that in two instances. The first is the path of Adam and the second is in the path of Jacob. Abel is being restored into the Elder Son position and Jacob is being restored into the Elder Son position. That spirit must be the spirit of America.

Israel is a country of 3 million people and they are surrounded by 150 million Arabs. Without the support of the United States it would be impossible for Israel to maintain its existence. Providentially speaking, America must protect and support Israel. Providentially, the first and second Israel cannot be divided. And likewise, the second and third Israel cannot be cut off.

Originally, the United States should have gone to Korea, but instead, Father came to the United States in 1971. The original connection should have been made during the 3-year period from the beginning of 1945. That wasn’t done, so in order to indemnify and restore that, Father came to the United States from Korea in 1971. The purpose for doing that was to connect the second Israel to the third Israel.

How did Jacob become the ancestor of Israel? Jacob was able to subjugate Esau. His 12 children then became the original people of Israel. Esau represented the position of Cain and even beyond that, the position of Satan. So how did Jacob subjugate Esau? For 21 years Jacob lived for others. Who helped Jacob do that? It was his mother Rebekkah.

Before leaving New York for Korea this time, Father spoke to Mrs. Erikawa the following words: Father has recently emphasized two projects over others: one is the work of the IIFWP centering on the United Nations, and the other is the work of the Japanese missionaries to the United States. If the Japanese missionaries had come to the United States and worked as Father had directed, this September incident would not have occurred. That is because Japan is in the mother position. There needs to be unity between the mother nation and the elder son nation, in a spiritual sense.

From the providential point of view Japan as the mother country and the United States, the elder son country, must become one centering on Korea, the father country. The U.S. must go the way of the elder son. The elder son has two primary responsibilities: 1) To attend the Parents; 2) To look after brothers and sisters. The conflict between Christianity and Islam right now is a sibling conflict. The conflict between Ishmael and Isaac is a sibling conflict. Then who can stop the conflict between brothers? It won’t stop until the Parents come and stop it.

The reason that Father spent 3 days in meditation and prayer and did not appear or speak at all, was because he was feeling responsibility as a parent. The first responsibility of the elder son is to attend the parents. The second is to look after the younger brothers and sisters. In Korean tradition, the position of the elder son is an extremely important one. The elder son inherits the property of the parents. The elder son lives in the house that the parents lived in. All the other brothers and sisters go and live somewhere else once they marry.

The elder son once a year is responsible to hold a ceremony commemorating the day the parents died. So the elder son represents the parents and stands in the position of the parents. At least half of the property is inherited by the elder son. The responsibility of the elder son is to look after and take care of the younger brothers and sisters. The blessing that the parents pass to the elder son is not for the elder son himself but so that he can take care of his younger siblings.

The United States is a young country, with a history of only 225 years. But this country didn’t just suddenly appear out of nowhere. God gathered all the blessings from all around the world—all technology, all culture, and all the ideas from around the world are concentrated here. That is how this country called the United States was created. The United States does not exist only for its own purpose. In the 50-State speaking tour, Father often asked: "Who is the real owner of America? Who is the master of America?" White people? No. Black people? No. He said this country was created to serve the purpose of God’s providence and therefore this country belongs to whoever loves it as God loves it. And he concluded that God’s blessings to America were not given only for the purpose of America so that Americans themselves could enjoy them, but rather they were given to America so that they could be shared with the entire world.

Right now, the United States is overflowing with prosperity. Politically, economically, the United States is truly the lone superpower in the world. When President Bush was inaugurated and began to carry out a very aggressive foreign policy, I was a bit concerned. The world cannot be controlled through military or economic power. Throughout history, any country that tried to control the world through power was quickly wiped off the map. We see in history that anyone who tries to control the world through brute strength doesn’t last very long.

The United States has many missions that it must accomplish. It has to work for other nations of the world; it has to revive the United Nations and it must act as a policeman in the world. There are many problems that the United States has to deal with. But the important thing is for the United States to ask itself how it is going to stand in the position of parents to the world. America is the oldest brother and is stronger than all the other siblings. But it cannot just beat up on the other siblings all the time. It has to think how it is going to help those other siblings and how it is going to live for the sake of the other siblings.

Father was very concerned immediately after September 11 when President Bush sounded as though he was going to begin bombing right away. Father knew he should not be in such a hurry, that bombing would not solve anything because the enemy is not someplace "outside." It is not in Iran and Iraq. There are 3 million Arabs here in the United States, and they cannot be turned into enemies. We must know that on September 11, after the incident, there were certain Arabs in New Jersey that went out and cheered when this happened! So both the enemies and the allies are here in the United States.

Father said the UN must take the lead in this. Fortunately the President is going this way. It is a very wise decision. We must still be concerned how this situation is going to be resolved ultimately. Father has often said that we must move beyond "one nation under God" to "one world under God." Not just God bless America, but God bless the world. The significance of God’s blessing can be universalized to encompass the entire world. Father has, therefore, created the IIFWP and this is a report on the Convocation of World Leaders and the Dialogue among Civilizations that was held earlier this year. It is very important that we work for harmony and unity, across ethnic, racial, religious and international lines.

I would like to conclude with a few words that Father has spoken. THE UNITED STATES IS NOW ON THE CROSS, just as Jesus was on the cross 2,000 years ago. The important thing now is: how is the United States going to deal with its enemy? How is it going to conquer its enemy as it hangs on the cross? As Jesus hung on the cross, he prayed to God, that God would forgive those who put him on the cross and those that had pierced him with spears, "Because," he said, "they don’t know what they are doing."

The word "peace" could not be used under the circumstances after the recent tragedy. It is very difficult for people to speak in terms of love or forgiveness. We must not forgive evil; we must get rid of evil, even if we have to use bombs in order to do so. But we must love the evil people and give them life. Evil people are being used by evil spirits. And right now, centering on President Bush, evil people are being put more and more into a corner. They are moving into a very difficult situation. They are being given the opportunity to surrender. Several times they have been given an opportunity. In the end evil will not be able to fight back anymore. In the end, a forceful attack can be launched against evil, not against evil people but against evil itself.

Father has spoken a great deal about strengthening the United Nations. The United Nations must be able to fulfill its function to establish and keep peace in the world today.

Father considers the people who died in this incident to be living offerings, offerings for the world. We should pray that these offerings, the first in the 21st century, can be offerings for the sake of establishing a new world of peace. Father has said that the clergy, in particular, must stand in the forefront to establish peace in the world. That is why Father donated the Blessing Fund this time. It is for the purpose of establishing harmony between Christianity and Islam.

I believe that these 7,000 people who became offerings will have died eventually for the sake of establishing a new world of peace in the 21st century. Let us pray, as Americans, that this incident will be an opportunity for us to establish a world of peace for eternity. Those two buildings were, in a sense, the highest accomplishment of humankind. In a sense they were the pride of all humanity, but in another sense they represented the fallen pride of humanity. In a sense they may have symbolized the Tower of Babel, in terms of the pride that humanity had before God. There were two; they were divided. But everything has collapsed down to ground zero. Now, from that origin point, we must create a new building, one building. And the foundation of the new building must be love, harmony and unity.

Mrs. Young Soon Kim, who has been receiving many messages from Spirit World, put a question to Father. She can see Satan spiritually. And she receives attacks from Satan quite often, as does Mrs. Hyo Nam Kim also. We cannot imagine how many times she been attacked and disturbed by Satan in the process of bringing Spirit World messages to the Earth. In Han Nam Dong Mrs. Kim suddenly asked Father the question: "How can we gain victory over Satan?" Father didn’t hesitate a second, but answered immediately: "By doing that which Satan cannot do." What is that? It is to love. Only love can overcome Satan. This is how we win victory over Satan."

So how can we overcome the extremists who are filled with evil? Can we do it by killing bin Laden? If we do that, there will be ten more just like him. And if we kill those ten, there will be a thousand more just like them. Evil cannot be defeated through evil. Only goodness can defeat evil. We must defeat evil with love. That is the answer we have from Heaven.

There is a saying among Christians, that we should hate the sin, but love the sinner. In the same sense, terrorism is our enemy, but terrorists must be made to repent. They must be given life. They are like the thief on the left at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion. They don’t know what they are doing. They are only the tools of Satan

The United States must stand in the position of having the heart of the parent, being able to encompass the entire world as the elder son, standing in the position of the father and mother.

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