Here, Dr. Pak continues the talk he gave the day before and focuses on the value and necessity of persecution. Using John the Baptist as an example of someone who had the vision and lost it, he cautions Unification Church members that they will also be tested. He implores them to strive to become pillars of faith.

I would like to have the IOWC leader, Mr. Ron Pepper, lead our Manseis. Let us all stand and have three cheers for True Parents.

It is through persecution alone that we can truly know the suffering heart of God. Father has described God's suffering heart. His heart is aching and broken. How can you understand the broken heart of God and be closer to him except through persecution and tasting the same suffering? So this morning I say to you, thank God we have some persecution. This gives us a brilliant opportunity to taste the heart of God, to join Him in His suffering. Thank God.

Yesterday I told you our job is to live and die for Father. Die for the True Parents. The most dramatic way of proving that you are living and dying for True Parents and God is through undergoing persecution, not through the way of glory or praise. If your heart has not been tested and you have not proven yourself, you know God only like a black and white picture. Going the way of persecution makes God more vivid and real, living color, like a color television.

Without persecution our movement cannot be tested. If we have ample money for everything, and if people serve us and salute us, do we have a great blessing? No! We are persecuted only because we are right and because we want to change from the selfish point of view. We are talking about a vision for the future of the world, the Kingdom of God. After all, for 6,000 years who has been the ruler here on earth? The Bible clearly states that Satan has been the ruler.

The Unification Church came to this satanic world like paratroopers from heaven. We landed in hostile land. We are going to take away Satan's territory and his people and transform them into the Kingdom of God. That means the satanic people must lose. Who likes to lose? Naturally, Satan reacts most violently. But to me the persecution shows clearly that what we are doing is right. We are not here for self-centered motivation. But the world comes against us because they are threatened. They know we are right. When paratroopers are coming down, how can you expect a royal welcome? Will you be ushered in politely? Can you expect that? No, sir. You can expect machine gun fire, artillery, barbed wire, land mines. When the United Nations landed at Inchon with General MacArthur, they were greeted by communist fire. That is how we are greeted. It's natural.

Father is saying, thank God we have persecution. That proves that we are doing right. That proves that we are truly the first troops to land on this hostile ground of satanic territory. We are trying to change this world to the Heavenly Kingdom. We can't expect that to be easy. Through learning the true heart of God, we will be just like him. To understand God's heart, we live it. That is what Father is doing.

In the early days of our ministry in Korea, most of our prayer was totally wet prayer. When the congregation prayed in Korea, the church had a very humble wooden floor. Dr. Sontag has been there and I am sure he can vividly recall. Now they have linoleum to make it better, but 10 years ago there was not even some floor cover. It was the hard, wooden floor. When we met, night and day, Father prayed and everybody prayed. Usually that prayer ended up washed in a flood of tears. There is no one under heaven, no living individual here on earth, who has shed more tears than Father. He shed the tears of God.

In Korea, Father sometimes began to pray upstairs in his own small, humble prayer room. It is a Japanese-style building, and Father would sit and pray on a tatami mat. Sometimes members would see water dripping down from the second floor. They wondered if it was raining or leaking something. But there was no rain. They went upstairs and found Father totally weeping in prayer for hours and hours. His eyes were swollen from so much weeping. Father cried out God's sorrow. Not his own sorrow, God's sorrow. He wanted to heal the broken heart of God through his tears.

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time in history God's heart was healed, by the tears of one man, Reverend Moon. For the first time God found here on earth a friend. God found a handle he could connect to, a handle he could pull.

Actually, you and I certainly have no power to change the world. God has that power. All God needs is a handle. Look at Noah's flood judgment. How could God judge the world by flood? Because there was a handle. Noah presented his untiring and unchanging face to God, and God could pull that handle. There was a condition established here on earth, so God could pull that handle and judge the world. It is just the same today. God is looking for the handle. Reverend Moon is the handle of God. Then God will manifest his power and pull the world.

This is why sometimes when Father proclaims something that he is going to do or something that will happen it seems to be impossible. Last year, he said we will go to Moscow. Everybody in the world laughed at him. The only one who did not laugh at that statement was God. Reverend Moon made that statement, not because he believes in his own power or in your power, but because of his belief in God. He knew that we have to present the handle that God can grab with His gigantic hand. That is our job. The primary job of the Unification Church today is to change the quality of man.

If even one person out of this congregation can come near to the standard of Reverend Moon in understanding God's suffering heart, our movement would be infinitely proud. I tell you, we have so far to go. This is the agony of God. This is the agony of Reverend Moon. So, brothers and sisters, do not try to be a worldly success. Let us make spiritual success in the sight of God. Let us present ourselves as truly the one that God can say, "My son, you know me. I am glad you know me." And then we can tell God, "I will take over your mission. My Father in heaven, you suffered enough. Why don't you rest and leave the mission to us. Relax on your throne for the first time in history." God has been waiting for such a man and such a group. Reverend Moon is saying every day, God let me do it. Why don't you take a rest? And we join with him. We are saying the same thing in our prayers. "God, my Father, you suffered enough. I am your son. I am your daughter. We can do it. You just relax and you just watch me."

The world may call you a madman or a blasphemer. The world may try to stone you to death. But you have nothing to fear. I told you already, no power can touch the real you. They can only touch your flesh, which is eventually going to go back to the earth. No power can touch the real son of God in you, the real daughter of God in you. Not the power of the whole U.S. government.

Actually, we are carrying one bomb for the satanic world. I tell you, that is this body. Our prayers should be: Heavenly Father, let me have a chance to explode greater than the atomic bomb, greater than the hydrogen bomb. We want to make an impact, not for the destruction of the world, but for the construction of the world. We want to use this one final bomb you gave us, this body. I want to invest it.

Think of John the Baptist. God sent John the Baptist ahead of Jesus to prepare the way for the Lord. He was like a pathfinder, a "recon" team, or a scout. He was to make Jesus' "landing" easier. But one of the most extraordinary proclamations of the Divine Principle is that John the Baptist was not a man of success. He failed his mission. He did not pave the way of Jesus into glory. Instead, he paved the way of Jesus into crucifixion.

John the Baptist knew he was a great prophet. When he spent 40 days in the wilderness, he ate locusts and wild honey. That was the way he survived. He did not want to eat anything-not meat, not blood. He knew his body was holy, and he could not stain it with ungodly things. He was a great man, far greater than you and me. John the Baptist was a great prophet. God gave him the vision to see Jesus as the son of God. John testified to Jesus at the Jordan River, saying, you are the son of God. I proclaim to the world, Jesus, you are the son of God.

But before John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod, he had already died an even worse death. His spiritual death came first. His clear mind and vision that had recognized Jesus was missing. He was in prison at that time. He was tortured, not by King Herod, but by his own conscience. Something was missing. He was not sure. To John, Jesus was an enigma, he couldn't quite figure him out. He looks like the son of God, then he doesn't look like the son of God. If he is the son of God, how could he be criticized as a man of demons, and how could the world try to stone him to death? John sent two disciples to Jesus to ask, "Are you he who is to come, or shall we wait for another?"

What a contrast. John had testified that Jesus was indeed the son of God, but at the end of his life, he was asking the question, are you really the messiah, or shall we wait for another messiah? Was this was an utterance of trust or doubt? It is doubt. He died in doubt.

Unification Church members face the same danger. One of the fears we Unification Church members have is that we might doubt, at the end of the day. The end of your day, the end of my day. I don't want to be in a position to say, are you really the one or shall we wait for another Reverend Moon? That is the worst condemnation. If you are sure, every day you are living with bubbling enthusiasm and excitement that you know who he is. You not only know who he is, you are living his burden. You are weeping his sorrow. You are shedding his tears. You have been beaten to death because of him. You have been thrown into jail because of him.

American government, would you give me the greatest Medal of Honor by throwing me into prison because of Father? I would consider that the greatest medal of all. America cannot honor me any more than to send me to jail because of him. Because of the tears I shed for God. Because of the tears I shed for mankind. Because of tears I shed for True Parents. Boy. America would do me a great favor. Through persecution, God gives me the greatest blessing of all.

Brothers and sisters, let us be totally sure of one thing. We must not become a John the Baptist, asking the question, are you he who is to come or shall we wait for another? You and I are proud Moonies, and we were just promoted to Sunnies. We are Sunnies. Sunnies are ready to do anything, ready to go anywhere for His sake. For righteousness sake. That is a Sunnie. So I tell you my final word this morning is this: There can be ex-Moonies, but there can never be ex-Sunnies. Do you agree? Let us pray.

Prayer by Bo Hi Pak:

Our most loving Heavenly Father. Thank you very much. You hid me and spoke Your most precious word through this humble flesh. Our Father, thank you, thank you, that you give us the title of Sunnies. We have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord. We have seen the march of truth. Father, now we are going to live it, we are going to proclaim it, we are going to wage war against the satanic world. We are going to bring victory. Father, every year, by the time September 18 comes, we want to bring equivalent victory that matches the victory of Washington Monument last year. That is our determination this morning, the first day of August. Today we pledge to you our utmost loyalty, our heart, everything that I have got to bring that victory possible. We want to do it. Not for our own sakes. Not our own egos. Not our own fame. Not for our own honor, but for you, Father. We want to forget ourselves. We want to lose ourselves so that you can come in 100 percent. So you can run me. Run every one of us in this room. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. You just relax and watch what the Sunnies will perform this month, the month of August. Father, at the end of this month you will see the result. You will see our heart today and every day. We are proud of your son and daughter. All these things we pray in the name of our beloved True Parents. Amen.

 Download entire page and pages related to it in ZIP format
Table of Contents
Information
Tparents Home