The Words of Young Oon Kim
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The Words of Young Oon Kim |
"O give thanks to the Lord, call on his name, make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him. sing praises to him, tell of all his wonderful works! Glory in his holy name, let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice!" (Psalms I05:1-3)
Since the New Age or the Cosmic Era started in 1960, two great festivals have been fixed. [A third festival was proclaimed in 1963. The first is Parents' Day, which is March 1st according to the lunar system. Adam and Eve were created as the children of God to be the parents of mankind thereafter. Due to the fall of Adam and Eve, the children were taken away from God; they joined Satan, the adulterer, the enemy of God. This broke the heart of God and prevented the attainment of a perfect creation in man and in the universe. The ideal of God's kingdom and the purpose of His creation could not be fulfilled. Ever since the fall of man, God has been grieving and suffering to the utmost over His ruined Cosmos. And He has been carrying on His providence of restoration of man and the universe through His servants.
After a long process of endurance and hard labor with the Israelites, God sent the Messiah, Jesus, in the place of Adam. God spoke through the prophet Isaiah:
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called 'Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.'" (Isa. 9:6)
Jesus came to be the last Adam, to be the Everlasting Father of mankind. Since the fall of Adam and Eve, mankind has never had true parents originating directly from God, but has had only parents of the fall who betrayed God and were alienated from Him.
God spoke through the prophet Malachi and said,
"And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers" (Mal. 4:6).
Since mankind is born of fallen parents, children do not have proper respect or love toward their parents. Nor do the parents have divine love for their children. The relationship of parents and children is corrupt; selfish love has been relating them. The mission of Jesus was to restore the original intrinsic relationship of father and son. Thus he was to turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. In order to fulfill this task, One True Everlasting Father had to be installed, by whom a re-creation was possible.
"Before the restoration of all
mankind, one true father must be restored in Adam's place. As God
created one man, Adam, for whom He made a woman, Eve, God restores
one man first, and He extends the work through him until the entire
restoration is accomplished. Through Jesus, the Divine Word became
flesh for the second time in order that the sinless Adam might be
restored. Thus Jesus, as the second Adam, was to become the true
father of mankind."
(The Divine Principles, 2d ed., Young Oon
Kim, p. 63.)
However, Jesus could not complete all his work because the Jews disposed of him in the middle of it. Hence the Second Coming of Christ became necessary. Jesus said, "For the Son of man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay every man for what he has done." (Matt. 16:27).
The one who fulfills the Second Coming of the Lord succeeds Jesus in his mission and completely fulfills it. When he fulfills this, he becomes the true and everlasting father of mankind. By installing him in this position, God restores a true Adam or a true Christ. The restoration of a true Adam's family, the restoration of a true Israel, and the restoration of the whole world becomes possible only after the true father is installed. Hence Jesus said, "The Son of man is to come in the glory of his Father."
In April 1960, when God filled this position, a crossing junction occurred between good and evil. With this event, the ultimate promise in Revelation and in the New Testament was fulfilled. This is why since 1960,.a new history has started on earth, and good is now taking the aggressive stand and will dominate the world. To commemorate this great event, Parents Day was fixed. This will be observed as one of the great festivals in the new world without end.
God's ideal of creation could not be fulfilled until Adam and Eve produced children and thus dominated the whole creation. The four positions in heaven had to be installed. October 1st according to the lunar system was fixed as Children's Day or Thanksgiving Day. Following the establishment of Parents' Day, there have been two more events (heavenly weddings) by which such a condition was established that mankind was able to be restored to the status of God's children.
The condition also made it possible for the True Parents and True Children to have dominion over all creation. Therefore, it is more than thanksgiving for good harvest. Indeed it is thanksgiving for the restoration of the whole world, for the heavenly harvest of the entire cosmos. This is the significance of Children's Day. Let us contemplate what our Master has attained for God and mankind, for heaven and earth. Let us return the utmost glory and praise to God. Let us express our wholehearted joy and thanks to the Master.
Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased! (Lk. 2:14)
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and I heard a great 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 anymore, for the former things have passed away. (Rev. 21:14)
The following questions were among those answered by Miss Young Oon Kim at the Children's Day weekend held at La Honda, California, October 22-24, 1965.
Q. Does our Leader fulfill not only the prophecies in the Christian Bible but in all other religions as well?
A. As I understand it, the prophecies of other religions are included in the prophecies of the Old and New Testaments. They are merely explained in different terminology.-- but the main points are much the same.
Q. Do we in the Principle celebrate Christmas?
A. We celebrated it until 1960, because until that time Jesus was officially our Savior. We were still in the Growth Stage. Now we do not celebrate Christmas, the 25th of December, but we celebrate our Leader's birthday. To us, this is the new Christmas. His birthday is not one of the festivals which he has instituted, but we celebrate it out of gratitude to him. It is not an official festival day, but we celebrate it with gratitude. Before 1960, our Leader led the Christmas service for us. It was held January 3rd [solar calendar], not December 25th.
Our Leader and many other spiritual people said that January 3rd was Jesus' birthday. Our Leader led the service, often with tearful prayers and offering much sympathy to Jesus. But now Jesus himself says he should withdraw, that it is "Mr. Moon's Age." If you can accept this you don't need to celebrate the old Christmas, but can celebrate the new one. But if you still feel attached to Jesus, then celebrate on Dec. 25th. It is up to the individual. The Leader's birthday is January 6th (lunar calendar). More and more in the celebration of Christmas in the other churches we see a lifeless, spiritless reaction to this holy day. This is another indication that the day has been changed.
Q. What is the policy and procedure concerning funerals of members of the Family? What is done with the remains? Is it an occasion of rejoicing or sadness?
A. My mother died while I was here in America, and our members in Korea buried her. My sister and others wrote to me that it was like a wedding ceremony. Everyone rejoiced! She had lived a long life, she had followed our Leader, and all kinds of spiritual phenomena had appeared in her last minutes on earth. The ceremony was joyful, like a marriage. But if it is a young person, we feel that he or she should have been here longer. God has blessed our life on earth, so no one is destined to die young. We are to have a full life. If the family who loses one of its members through death does not feel that everything is in God's hands, if they don't feel joy, then others cannot feel joy either. In that case, you just be quiet. But there is no sense in crying and being sad, because life continues.
About the ceremony itself, we don't have any special procedure.. The new procedure of burial in the New World has not been set yet, so we just follow the pattern of the other denominations (Presbyterian, Methodist, etc.).