Historical changes have taken place in accordance with certain laws. These are the "Laws of Creation" and the "Laws of Restoration." Here, I will first explain the Laws of Creation. The Laws of Creation consist of

(1) the Law of Correlativity,
(2) the Law of Give-and-Receive Action,
(3) the Law of Repulsion,
(4) the Law of Dominion by the Center,
(5) the Law of Completion through Three Stages,
(6) the Law of the Period of the Number Six, and
(7) the Law of Responsibility.

Every created being not only forms internally a correlative relationship between the principal element and the subordinate element within itself, but also, externally, forms another correlative relationship of subject and object between itself and another individual being, whereby it exists and develops. In this case, the subject and the object form a mutual relationship, centering on common purpose. Accordingly, the first requirement for a society to develop is that correlative elements (correlatives) of subject and object must form a reciprocal relationship in every field, such as culture, politics, economy, and science. Correlative elements of subject and object refer to Sungsang and Hyungsang, yang and yin, or principal and subordinate elements (or principal and subordinate individual beings).

Examples of correlatives are spirit and body, ideology and economic conditions (material conditions), spiritual culture and material culture, government and people, managers and workers, workers and instruments of production, principal parts and subordinate parts in a machine, and so on. As these correlative elements engage in the relationship of subject and object, development is achieved in culture, politics, economy, science, and so on.

When the correlative elements of subject and object within a thing form a correlative relationship, the action of giving and receiving certain elements or forces takes place. Through this action, things maintain their existence and develop. Such interaction between subject and object is called give-and-receive action. Thus, in history and in all fields, development occurs when the correlative elements (correlatives) of subject and object establish a correlative standard and perform harmonious give-and-receive action, centering on common purpose. For example, in order for a nation to maintain its existence and to prosper, government and people must form a relationship of subject and object for the purpose of the nation's prosperity and must engage in harmonious give-and-receive action. In an enterprise, investors, managers, workers, engineers, and machinery must have mutual relationships of subject and object and perform harmonious give-and-receive actions for the purpose of the prosperity of the enterprise. The "Law of Correlativity" and the "Law of Give-and-Receive Action" are in the relationship of the two sides of a coin, and we can combine them together and call them the "Law of Give-and-Receive Action" in a broader sense.

Give-and-receive action is harmonious, and is never oppositional or conflictive. Yet, the materialist view of history asserts that history develops through the struggle of opposites. Struggles may become an impetus for development, but while the struggle is going on, development will come to a standstill or may even retrogress. The assertion of the materialist view of history on this point is quite erroneous: it is intended only to rationalize class struggle.

Give-and-receive action takes place between the correlative elements of subject and object. Subject and subject (or object and object), however, repel each other' We call this repelling phenomenon the "action of repulsion." The action of repulsion in the natural world is originally latent and does not surface. It plays the role of strengthening or complementing the give-and-receive action between subject and object. For example, in the natural world, positive electricity and positive electricity (or negative electricity and negative electricity) repel each other, but this is an action to strengthen or complement the give-and-receive action between subject (positive electricity) and object (negative electricity), and never surfaces as itself. Therefore, in the natural world, order is not disturbed through the action of repulsion.

In human society, however, the action of repulsion between subject and subject appears in the form of conflict between two leaders. An instance of this is the conflict between an established leader and a new leader at the time of a revolution. During such actions of repulsion, or rivalry, the conflicting subjects engage in give-and-receive action with their respective groups of people in the object position whereby they increase their respective forces. As a result, the two forces come into conflict with each other. In this case, one of the two camps is in a position closer to the direction of God's dispensation, whereas the other is in a position farther from it. The former is referred to as the "good side"; the latter, the "evil side." Accordingly, in human society the action of repulsion between one subject and another subject becomes a struggle between good and evil. When the side of goodness achieves victory in this struggle, the direction of history is changed a little toward the direction of goodness.

Also, there have been cases where the action of repulsion demonstrated its original complementarity to give-and-receive action. An example is the case where one country and another, or the people of one country and the people of another, compete with each other in a peaceful manner. As a result, both develop culturally and economically.

In the give-and-receive action between subject and object, the subject becomes the center, and the object comes to receive dominion by the subject. As a result, the object comes to perform circular motion centering on the subject. For this reason, physical circular motion in the natural world is performed. For example, the earth revolves around the sun, and electrons revolve around the nucleus. In human society, since the relationship of subject and object is that of mind and body, circular motion takes place in the sense that the object follows the orders, instructions, and requests of the subject.

In the history of restoration, God establishes central figures, and through them, leads society in a direction in accord with the providence of God, namely, in the direction of goodness. In this case, He first forms a social environment, and then inspires the central figure to lead that environment in a direction in accord with the providence of God. For that to happen, the central figure is given a portion of responsibility to fulfill. In this way, there is a law that the central figure has dominion over the environment. We call it the "Law of the Dominion by the Center." This law has been applied not only to the chosen people; it applies to all peoples and countries.

The history of the chosen people is the central history -- that is, the history of the Israelites in the Old Testament Age and the history of Western nations centered on Christianity, in the New Testament Age. In central history, God carried out His providence by establishing central figures. Examples of the central figures of different periods are Noah, Abraham, Moses, the kings, and the prophets in the Old Testament Age, Christian leaders, such as the popes, Martin Luther, and John Calvin, and political leaders, such as Charlemagne (Kingdom of the Franks), George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln in the New Testament Age.

Side by side with the work of God, the work of Satan is also going on. Satan, who seeks to oppose God's providence, has sought to establish a sphere of dominion centered on himself. By establishing a central figure on the Satanic side, Satan has sought to have dominion over the environment through that central figure. Kaiser Wilhelm II and Adolf Hitler, who sought world domination by advocating pan-Germanism, and Stalin, who aimed -it the conquest of the world through Communism, were such central figures.

Toynbee said, "The growths of civilizations are the work of creative individuals or creative minorities." ² The masses are guided by creative individuals or creative minorities, and follow them. This assertion by Toynbee points to the law of dominion by the center.

The materialist view of history theoretically attaches greater importance to the environment (i.e., the social environment) than to leaders, and asserts that the masses play the decisive role in social development; in that view, the leaders' actions are determined by their specific social environment. This way of thinking is based oil materialism, in which spirit is generated from matter, and matter is more important than spirit. It regards the social environment as a material category, and central figures (leaders) as a spiritual category. This is not a correct view, however. The leaders are the subject, and the masses, the object; based on their religious or political ideologies, the leaders guide the masses, or society, in a certain direction.

According to the Principle of Creation, the growth or development of all things is attained through a process of three stages, namely, Formation, Growth, and Completion. For example, plants mature and perfect themselves through the three stages of germinating, of growing stems and putting forth green leaves, and of blooming flowers and bearing fruit. This law applies in history as well; often the providence of re-creation has been carried out through a process of three stages. To elaborate, it is a law that if a certain providential event ends in failure, that providence can be prolonged up to a third time (or a third stage), but will necessarily be accomplished at the third stage.

For example, because Adam, due to the fall, failed to fulfill the purpose of creation, God sent Jesus as the Second Adam. But since Jesus was crucified and so could not fulfill the purpose of creation completely, God can send the Lord of the Second Advent as the Third Adam to fulfill the purpose of creation.

In the modem era, which is the period of preparation to receive the Lord of the Second Advent, movements for the revival of Hebraism and Hellenism have arisen, and each developed through the process of three stages. The movement for the revival of Hebraism refers to a God-centered movement, or a religious reformation. Following the First Religious Reformation, centered on Martin Luther and John Calvin, there arose the Second Religious Reformation, centered on John Wesley, George Fox, and others; and today, we are in the period of the Third Religious Reformation movement (the third God-centered movement). On the other hand, the movement for the revival of Hellenism refers to a humanistic movement. Following the Renaissance, the first humanistic movement, there arose the Enlightenment, the second humanistic movement. The Enlightenment today bore fruit in the form of the Communist ideological movement, the third humanistic movement.

A God-centered movement is a movement raised by God to counter a humanist movement. Accordingly, the Third Religious Reformation, which is the third God-centered movement, is a movement to overcome the Communist movement, which is the third humanistic movement. Thus, according to the ". w of Completion through Three Stages, the movement on God's side will actually be consummated and will prosper, whereas the movement on Satan's side will decline and perish in due time, even though the Satanic movement may also become consummated at the third stage. In the end, the movement on Satan's side will be defeated by the movement on God's side.

According to the Bible, in the creation of the universe by God it took six days to create Adam. In other words, the creation of Adam was achieved on the basis of a six-day period, as planned. That was the period of preparation for the creation of Adam.

In the history of re-creation as well, God began the preparation to receive the Messiah at the start of a period of the number six before the coming of the Messiah, the Second Adam Jesus). That period began from the sixth century BC As part of that preparation, God sent prophets, such as Jeremiah and Malachi, to the Jewish people from about the sixth century BC, and allowed the Jewish people be taken captives to Babylon that they might repent and turn away from their faithlessness. Around the sixth century BC, Confucius (ca. 551-479 BC) appeared in China and established Confucianism. Subsequent to Confucius, toward the third century BC, many philosophers appeared in China, and the golden age of Chinese thought was established. In India, Gautaina Buddha (ca. 563-483 BC) appeared in the sixth century BC and established Buddhism. Around the sixth century BC as well, the ancient Indian philosophical books called the Upanishads were formed. And in Greece, philosophy and science developed greatly from the sixth century BC All of those were preparations to receive the Messiah. God made preparations in this way by guiding the various peoples on earth in the direction of goodness through the methods appropriate to the people in each region.

Karl Jaspers noticed the fact that spiritual leaders (philosophers and founders of religions) appeared at about the same time in different regions of the world, such as China, India, Iran, Palestine, and Greece. He called that period the "Axial Period." Why did it happen? Jaspers had no explanation, and lie held it to be a mystery and a riddle in history. ⁴ Today, however, this can be clarified for the first time, through the law of the period of the number six.

Furthermore, in order to send the Lord of the Second Coming, who is the Third Adam, God also made preparations at the start of a period of the number six. Good examples are the Reformation and tire Renaissance, ⁵ which started around the fourteenth century and blossomed in the sixteenth century. The Industrial Revolution (tire late eighteenth century) and the subsequent sudden development of science and economy also were preparations for tire coming of the Messiah. In this providential work, God's intention is to send the Lord of the Second Coming in the twentieth century.

The religious leaders and philosophers who appeared six centuries before the birth of Jesus were in the positions of archangels, whose mission was to pave the way for the Messiah. Accordingly, the truth they brought was not the complete truth, but a partial truth. The Messiah, who is the Son of God, was to come later to preach the complete, absolute truth and to settle the unresolved questions of religions and thoughts. That is to say, in the Last Days, he was to revive and strengthen, with the absolute truth, the traditional religions and thoughts, which were incapacitated, and to realize the unified world through the unification of religions and thoughts.

Since, however, Jesus died on the cross, the realization of the unified world did not take place, and the mission of Jesus was entrusted to the Lord of the Second Coming. Further, Confucianism, Buddhism, Greek philosophy, and other thoughts have remained un-unified until the time of the Second Coming. A dispensation will be carried out at the time of the Second Coming similar to that planned for Jesus' time. That is to say, the Lord of the Second Coming will settle the unresolved questions of traditional religions and thoughts by means of the absolute truth he will bring. He will unify religions and thoughts, and will realize the unified world. It should be noted that it is not necessary to establish totally new religions and philosophies six centuries before the Lord of the Second Coming, as it happened six centuries before Jesus. We need only to revive the already existing religions and philosophies.

The first human ancestors, Adam and Eve, were given a portion of responsibility to fulfill; with that responsibility no one could interfere, not even God. The purpose of it was to enable them to attain the qualification for dominion over the universe.

Adam and Eve were to become perfected only when the human portion of responsibility, in addition to the portion of responsibility accomplished by God, was fulfilled. Yet, they failed to fulfill that portion of responsibility and fell.

The providence of re-creation is to be accomplished in the same way, that is, when the human portion of responsibility (especially that of providential central persons) is fulfilled in addition to God's portion of responsibility. Here, to fulfill the human portion of responsibility means to accomplish a mission that one has been given, through taking responsibility for that mission out of one's own free will.

Accordingly, if the providential persons fulfill their portions of responsibility, through their own wisdom and effort, in accordance with God's will, the providence moves to a new stage. If, however, those persons do not fulfill their portions of responsibility, the providence centered on them ends in failure and comes to be prolonged. After a certain numerological period of time, a new person is called to carry out the same providence.

The reason why human history has been prolonged as sinful history until today is that the providential persons have continually failed in fulfilling their portions of responsibility. Jesus was crucified and was unable to realize the unified world because the leaders of his time, including John the Baptist, the priests, and the lawyers, failed to fulfill their portions of responsibility. After World War 11 until today, Communism has caused conflicts all over the world, and confusion has occurred constantly due to the collapse of values in capitalist nations. All this has occurred because leaders of the Christian nations have failed to fulfill their portions of responsibility. ⁶

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