Here, Dr. Pak compares our way of looking at the end of the world to how other people and religions perceive it. For them, he says, it represents destruction, whereas for us, it represents the end of an evil sovereignty and the beginning of a new era of hope.

Prayer by Bo Hi Pak:

Our most loving Heavenly Father. Once again, we gather together in this holy, sacred place to worship you, almighty Father. We've been through one entire week; you've been guiding us, leading us this week, so that we have much to thank You for this morning. Many have gone through burdens of the world, burdens of life, burdens of responsibility, many sicknesses, many trials and tribulations, Father, but You have been our Shepherd. I shall not want, because you make us lie down in green pastures, lead us to the running waters; our soul has been restored over and over again. Father, we empty our heart to concentrate on You this morning, nothing else. We come to receive Your spirit, Your truth, Your love. Above all, Your strength and power will carry us for another week, beginning from today. Father, we want to dwell with You in Your Kingdom, as Your sons and daughters. Father, cleanse our hearts this morning so that only Your spirit can speak and echo into our heart. We shall be better sons and daughters after this moment. It is the beginning of the hour, be with us all the way. All of this we pray in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.

Welcome, once again, .to this wonderful Sunday service. It is such a great pleasure to meet you and see your shining faces, beginning the new week. It is very wonderful that we consider Sunday as the beginning of the week. Many in our world regard Sunday as the last day of the week or as the rest day, picnic, laundry day, a day for doing whatever chores have accumulated during the week. But we believe Sunday is a day of dedication, of sanctification. So it is truly appropriate we gather together, sing hymns, pray, listen to the sermon and wonderful holy music to begin our new week.

I want you to make this Sunday service an important part of your life. Imperatively important and absolutely necessary. Without a Sunday service, you must feel the week would not go right. So let us make this Sunday service of the Unification Church, of Reverend Sun Myung Moon, an important spiritual phenomenon, a volcanic explosion in New York.

This morning, I would like to share with you the concept that we frequently hear talked about nowadays, commonly known as the end of the world. I'm sure that, not just me, but all of you frequently hear various predictions about the end of the world. No evangelical meeting in this land would be complete without mentioning the end of the world.

The phrase "end of the world" brings out a gloomy, unpleasant feeling. What comes to mind when you hear it is fear. Today, however, in this Unification Church pulpit, I want to share with you a different kind of end of the world. But, first, let us consider what people are saying.

Some time ago, a great scientist predicted that the end of the world will come in the form of heavenly bodies colliding. Two stars will collide with each other and it will destroy the earth. The scientist gave a very accurate prediction, the exact year, month, and day. Many people took it seriously because the scientist was very prominent and had data from a computer. Many people took refuge in the Colorado Rocky Mountain area, hoping they would be safe. Finally, that moment came. The moment for the collision came and nothing happened. The entire room exploded in joy! Several men had heart attacks, so at least those men saw the end of the world. The scientist who predicted the end of the world felt so bad. I heard that he killed himself, so he saw the end of the world too.

This is a very unusual story, but the common theme of all the beliefs and predictions is the expectation of destruction.

A few weeks ago there was a crisis with Three Mile Island, the nuclear power plant that almost brought the entire nation to hysteria. Within our own backyard, we were trembling in fear that we might become victims of nuclear holocaust. This country alone possesses nuclear power capability to wipe out mankind many times over. But America is not the only country with nuclear power. The Soviet Union probably has far more than this country. In nations like India, where people are starving by the millions, huge amounts of money are being spent to develop nuclear power. We know France has it, Great Britain has it, maybe South Africa has it. In a couple of decades, probably most of the countries on earth will have some form of nuclear capability.

Is that the way the world is going to end? Many people think, well, while we have life here on earth, let us have fun today; we never know about tomorrow. That expedient way of life has become very popular.

On the other hand, Christians have different reasons to believe in the end of the world, because they believe in the Bible. The Bible has many predictions about the end of the world, which is not very comforting to Christians and non-Christians alike.

For example, Matthew 24:29 warns, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers from heaven will be shaken." Malachi 4:1 reads, "For behold, the day comes, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all the evil doers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up." And 2 Peter 3:10 says, "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and the works that are upon it will be burned up."

It's not comforting. However, according to the revelation received by Reverend Sun Myung Moon, we Unification Church members do have a very clear explanation of the end of the world.

For us, the end of the world is hope-not despair. We believe in a God of perfect will. In Isaiah 46:11 God says: "I have spoken, I will bring it to pass; I have purposed, and I will do it." God will accomplish His original purpose of creation, which is perfected man. God's children will be restored and one with Him. God did not say, I may do it ... I'll think about it ... I'll sleep on it overnight. God said, "I Will Do It!" There we see God's determination and iron will.

Because of the fall of Adam and Eve we live in a world of sin. Divine Principle describes our world as the kingdom of hell on earth. The world we live in is not in accord with God's plan. Far from it. It's a broken, sickened world. It's a world that needs to be cured. So when God says "I will end the world," it does not mean He will demolish the entire creation once and for all. God is saying that He will destroy evil and Satan's sovereignty.

Many places in the Bible indicate that the ruler of this world is not God. For example, John 8:44 says, "You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires." Satan is our father, and we have been following him, rather than God. In other words, we've been a sinful generation. John 12:31 says, "Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the ruler of this world be cast out." So God is not the current ruler of this world. And 2 Corinthians 4:4 says, "In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from the light of the gospel." That god is not a capital "G" God.

So, when God over and over talks about the end of the world, God is talking about the end of evil sovereignty on earth. The evil era will end and the good era will begin. Talking about the end of the world is only one side of the coin. When you look at the other side, it is a beginning of a new world of hope. God rules again. His power prevails. Christ like men see the day of justice. We'll see the kingdom of heaven on earth. That's the new world.

As it says in Revelation 21:1-4, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away ... and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, `Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them; He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away.'"

What will pass away? All the ungodly things, satanic things, unclean things. We will see new life and a new world. "The dwelling of God is with men," which means that God is not dwelling completely with men now! We must await the dwelling of God.

Therefore, the Unification Church proclaims the day of hope, rather than the fearful last days. Hope is a key word in the Unification Church. Once we have hope, we must know a couple of important things about God. As Reverend David Hose read to us, God declared in Genesis that He was sorry He had made man. Have you thought about that? God was sorry that He had made man. Why do you feel sorry? You feel sorry when your wishes have not been fulfilled. Your will has not been accomplished. That is why God felt sorry. When God first created the world, He was not sorry at all. You can read in the first chapter of Genesis that after every thing God created, God said that it was good. "And God saw that it was good." Heaven and earth, good. The sun and moon, good. Birds and fishes, good. It was good, wonderful, exactly the way He wanted it. Then, finally, God created man, Adam and Eve. You know what God said? God said it was VERY GOOD! Total satisfaction! Then He could rest.

But in Genesis 6, God said he was sorry He had made man. We learn two things from this statement: First, something went wrong. Something went against the will of God. Something terribly disturbed God. The second thing we learn is very important: God was sorry because for some reason God Himself could not prevent this from happening. God had to let it happen, even though the consequence was grief and suffering. That is very, very important. God was sorry He had made man. God's heart was broken.

That is still true today. When God looks at America, at New York City, He is still saying, I am sorry to see New York. But God is not in despair. God is not totally helpless. But it is important to understand that God is a personality of emotion. His heart has been broken again and again by us, His children.

Many Christians describe God as a God of power and dignity and happiness. They think that God is upstairs sitting on a gigantic throne wearing a crown. He is enjoying His power, sprinkling blessings here and there. "Are you happy this morning, my children? Here, have this blessing." Smiling ear to ear, morning to night.

Honestly speaking, before I joined the Unification Church, I thought of God in that fashion. I thought that was God. The greatest revelation Reverend Moon brought to this world and brought to me and many members of this church is: God is heartbroken. Our Heavenly Father is heartbroken. And the remedy must come from man, not from God.

Last week I described how God, because of His love, wants to make man like God. God created man with free will. You and I have a choice. No matter how many thousands of years God might breathe out His love, He did not want us to become robots. He wants us to become His sons and daughters. The true relationship between father and son must be one of love, and love must come from voluntary action. So, I want you to understand that the broken heart of God cannot be remedied until man voluntarily comes out of sin and comes back to calling God "Father."

If God could manipulate us like a computer, push buttons that would cure sin and get rid of Satan, I tell you, God would have done it a long, long time ago. It does not take God 6,000 years to think of a way out of this painful situation. So many people have come under the communist ideology, which is basically atheism. They say there is no God; we shall make ourselves God, the state will become God. God is listening to all of this kind of talk, and still He doesn't bring judgment down on us. Still He doesn't use force to change us. Our hearts won't change by force. It must come from education and inspiration.

There is beauty in the Unification Church revelation. We believe in infinite, almighty God, our loving Father in heaven. But, at the same time, we believe that God needs you and me, your heart and my heart. God needs you to come forward and say, God, I love You, You're my Father, You have been suffering long enough, I want to liquidate Your suffering, I want to liberate You from Your sorrow, Your heartbrokenness. Let me do it, let me bear your burden. God is waiting for such people.

When Reverend Moon proclaims the liberation of God, some people say it is absurd or blasphemous. But think of it, if God really can do everything by Himself, He would not wait for 6,000 years. He needs you. He needs a champion. Until you take voluntary action, God's heart will not be healed, God's purpose of creation will not be completed, and the Kingdom of God here on earth will not be a reality.

So, my dear brothers and sisters, you and I have been challenged to become champions of God. God is calling you this way. God is calling you in His most sad voice. For 6,000 years mankind has been deaf. God has been calling, over and over and over. Only the voluntary action of man, the triumphant action of man, will make God prevail.

Yes, very few people in history have listened to the bleeding voice of God, the suffering, heartbroken voice of God. Most of the people turn away with deaf ears. That's why you read in the Bible, in the days of Noah, people turned deaf ears. The Bible says they were given in marriage, they ate, they drank, they did all kinds of things on earth, but never thought about the situation of God. The same in the days of Lot; they never bothered with God.

Today, what do we have in New York? The people eat, they drink, they are given in marriage. Actually, they don't even have to be given in marriage these days! These formalities no longer seem to be necessary. All kinds of crazy things are going on in the city. People turn deaf ears to God, but His voice is calling and Reverend Moon heard His voice, very clearly. For the first time in history, one man is purely representing the suffering voice of God, calling out to humanity. That is Reverend Moon. The truth of the teaching of his revelation is so clear, even a dumb person like me, once I came to understand the teaching of the Divine Principle, understood the heart of God.

Now we can listen, now we can understand the suffering heart of God. Once you understand you automatically say to God, I'm your champion, use me. This is the day of challenge. Since we now know God correctly, we have our greatest, most important, most extraordinary challenge. I want to accept that challenge. It's going to be an exciting life, for you and me. Suffering may come, because as the Bible says in Luke 17:25, "But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by his generation." There's a lot of rejection going on, because this world of Satan, this world of sin, doesn't want to change. Satan doesn't want to give up being ruler of this world. Fallen people want to protect their fallen way of life. It's not going to be easy.

God needs your commitment, your undivided, total commitment. That seems impossible, but it can be easy with the power of truth. Once you learn the power of truth, commitment becomes easy. And I tell you the beauty of commitment: you don't lose. Commitment in life is like flipping a switch. Even if you forget everything I said today, please bring back home one phrase: flipping the switch. Commitment to God is like flipping the switch. You know, before you came to this room, somebody flipped the switch to turn on the lights. If you only move the switch part way, there is still no light. You must hear that clicking sound, then click, the light is there. Once you click yourself, you commit yourself to God.

At that moment, your life begins to shine; everything will happen. You will find you are no longer you, you are part of God. Your eating becomes God's eating, your speech, your hearing, everything becomes an instrument of God, and the power of God is shining through you. Before you commit yourself, it seems like a foolish thing to do, that you will be a loser, but once you click into the "on" position, then you are really plugged into God's power. Living for God is joy. Living for God is power. Living for God is happy. And one more important thing; in living for God there is no retirement. I'm determined not to retire; I want to go on. Another fantastic thing about living for God is there's no bottom, you'll not hit the bottom. Infinite giving, infinite receiving, there's no end. You can make yourself as big as the universe. Reverend Moon frequently says, "Do even better than God, and God will love you, God will not be jealous."

Yes, we're living in the 20th century waiting for the appearance of such sons and daughters who will say, God, I'm coming, use me to build your kingdom! I've determined my life to liberate you so that You can say, once and for all, "I'm glad I made man." No longer will God say, "I'm sorry I have made man." He will say, "I'm so glad I have made man, I found my sons and my daughters; here is my heaven, my dwelling place is with you!"

Prayer by Bo Hi Pak:

Our loving Heavenly Father, thank You very much for giving this inspiration to us. Father, You want us to taste living for You. Living for God is joy, power, happiness, and spirit. Father, from this day on we want to do more every day to reach out for perfection. As You say, "You shall be like Me." Yes, one day, Father, we shall be like You. We shall be like Christ, so that we shall be proud to be Your sons and daughters in the fullest capacity. This morning, Father, thank You very much for these brothers and sisters who gather together to worship. Your sons and daughters shall come together again next week. Until then, Father, bestow upon them Your love, Your inspiration, Your truth, and Your power. Father, every moment of the day Your dwelling shall be welcome with all of us. Thank You, Father. All of these things we pray in the name of Christ our Lord. Amen.

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