Book Fourteen - A Life Of True Filial Piety
Chapter Three - The Way of Loyalty and Filial Piety
Section 1. Genuine Loyalty and Filial Piety Demands the Cost of Your Life

A wife who sacrifices her life for her husband is called a virtuous woman. A filial child sacrifices his life for his parents. A patriot sacrifices his life for his country. However, from the heavenly standard, loyalty and filial piety are fulfilled when you offer your eternal life. Our bodies die, but the standard of a heavenly virtuous woman is only established when she offers her eternal life to God, to her husband, and to her parents. You have to devote your entire lives to God.

That is why the Bible teaches us to love God with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind. So what is the standard of "all"? You have to be better than all other patriots, all other filial children, and all other virtuous women in the world. If not, then God's dignity cannot be established. Even in the satanic world, there have been many patriots and virtuous women until now. Yet God's dignity cannot be established if the standard for being a patriot and a virtuous woman is the same as in the satanic world. (9-108, 1960.4.24)

There have been filial children throughout human history. So, if we want to single out the greatest filial child in all of history, who could we deem to be that greatest or most exemplary filial child?

A youth who demonstrates greater filial piety than an old person is the more precious of the two. Filial children come in all shapes and sizes. Filial piety is practiced at all social levels, by the poor and by the rich, by laborers and by beggars. A person who is still alive cannot truly be a filial child. A person who is still alive cannot enter the ranks of those we call filial children. There are so many people who died in order to fulfill their filial duty; so those who are awarded the medal of filial piety during their lifetime will be accused by all those who died in the cause of filial piety.

From the ranks of those who died, there will be those who did so while trying to fulfill their filial duty. There will be those who died attempting to procure medicine for a sick parent, and even among them, there will be those that went with their own money, and others that had to borrow money. The tougher the situation, the greater is its value. Likewise, a patriot does not become a patriot before death. (49-279, 1971.10.17)

In what position do you have to stand in order to become a filial child? You have to stand in the position where you can take responsibility for the path of death, the path of the greatest suffering. So what is the path that filial children must walk? Parents will say "Love your brothers and sisters more than us. Live for the sake of your siblings in the same way as you live for our sake." Fulfilling this is the way of the filial child. Parents will probably say that this is their will. (62-37, 1972.9.10)

What kind of person is the true filial child among all filial children? Who can we say is more pious: a person who sacrificially attends his parents throughout his life, even into his seventies or eighties, or someone who sacrifices his life for them as a youth? Even if a son sacrificially attends his parents into his seventies or eighties, he cannot compete with the son who sacrifices his life for his parents in his youth. It is for this reason that the title patriot is conferred posthumously. From numerous historical examples, we know that true filial piety is determined at the transition from life to death. (48-65, 1971.9.5)

Even so-called patriots must live for the sake of Heaven before they can be conferred the title of patriot by Heaven. The path of the filial child is the same. Thus, you can understand how valuable and precious it is. Everything we do, whether eating, seeing, speaking or acting, must be for this purpose.

We have to realize that we have the responsibility to fulfill our duty as filial children and patriots, even if it entails walking the path of suffering and tears in the place of God, the Lord of Heaven. Even if we collapse while trying to block God from walking the path of tears, we must pick ourselves up again and go this way in His place. The duties of loyalty and filial piety must be accomplished from this position. (41-157, 1971.2.14)

Filial children and patriots cannot truly be termed as such unless they walk with death to their dying day. Nobody is truly a patriot prior to death. No matter how much a person may have suffered, a word spoken today with regret, nullifies any qualification as a patriot. All the loyalty that someone may have previously demonstrated is undone by a single moment of betrayal. It is only when someone has crossed over the peak of death that it becomes possible to determine whether that person has fully discharged the duties of loyalty and filial piety.

Hence, loyalty and filial piety are part and parcel of leading a public life. People who give their lives for their country are called patriots, and children who give their lives for their parents are called filial children. Consider the case of two sons: one had been pious and the other impious until their parents' dying day, but in the parents' dying moments the filial son becomes impious while his brother repents and turns pious; in that moment their positions will be reversed. In that event, the standard of his actions on that one final day would allow him to be elevated and have the title of filial son conferred upon him. Those who pursue their goals unerringly to the end of their days will inherit glory. (64-75, 1972.10.24)

I am more excited by a fallen person who is prepared to cast aside all fears of death and danger in order to confront grave global issues sincerely and earnestly than by someone who has toiled unremittingly over a prolonged period. Whoever ends their life for God in this way is assured of going to a wonderful place in the spirit world. (18-280, 1967.6.12)

Parents must provide the education for their children to progress through the stages of filial children, patriots, saints and divine sons and daughters. They have to teach them to perfect the dutiful way of children of filial piety, patriots, saints and divine sons and daughters, all the way up to God. If there is a parent who teaches in this way, then would not God think, "My goodness! That parent is doing what a parent should do. He is doing what a real teacher should do. He is doing what a real leader should do"?

When God says, "You are qualified to be a real parent. You are qualified to be a teacher," then you become a father who has the qualification to be a leader, and, beyond that, a king. Today, the concept of filial piety hardly exists in western culture. The concept of becoming a patriot does not exist. The concept of becoming a saint does not exist. The concept of becoming divine sons and daughters does not exist. This is why cultures will perish.

God wants you all to become divine sons and daughters. Then, who wants you to become a saint? The world does. The country wants you to be a patriot. The family wants you to become a filial child. This is the way of absolute truth. (285-218, 1997.5.19)

A true parent will never say to their child, "You have become a filial child, so, you do not need to become a patriot. Do not go the way of a patriot." A true parent must teach that filial child, "You have to sacrifice your family and walk the path of a patriot. You must serve your country, fulfill the duty of a saint, and you have to sacrifice your duty as a saint in order to go the way that Heaven desires. And beyond this, you have to sacrifice Heaven and Earth to find God."

People become filial children only by sacrificing themselves for their families. Further, in order to become patriots, people must be willing to sacrifice their entire families in order to save their nation. Only this way can they become patriots.

Saints are people who are willing to sacrifice their country in order to save the world. Divine children must be willing to sacrifice the world in order to realize God's Nation and Land, the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Humankind has been ignorant of this truth. You need to invest and sacrifice yourselves. If not, then the ideal of one world or one country will never be accomplished. (285-218, 1997.5.19)

It does not matter, how many Christians there are. God wants people who are resolved to go anywhere anytime at His command -- people who are awaiting His command with a joyful heart. There are millions of Christians in the world. They are proud of their numbers, but how many of them are like this? If someone at sword point were asked to allow themselves to be sacrificed on God's altar, but they refused to do so, then they would be nothing. This era requires people whose hearts are burning with desire to fulfill their filial duty. It requires people who will risk their lives for Heaven and strive for Heaven. I think these people will be called Heaven's Revolutionary Soldiers of the Last Days.

God will be looking for individuals, families, peoples and nations who are one with His ideology in seeking to fulfill their responsibility to the world. God has long sought such individuals. Such people must comfort God's heart and demonstrate loyalty and filial piety before Heaven, and resolve all the circumstances of Heaven and Earth. So you have to become a person to whom God can say, "You are the person who can take responsibility for this age. When I see you, I have hope for tomorrow. You can achieve the victory in today's fight." This kind of individual is absolutely essential.

God must be able to say to that kind of person, "You are truly the bone of my bones, the flesh of my flesh, and the heart of my heart." No matter how many ancestors we have, and no matter how many people there are in this age, unless a person appears on this earth about whom God can say from the depth of His heart, "You are the greatest ancestor, unparalleled in human history," then humankind will be unable to escape the sadness brought about by the Fall of the first ancestors of humankind. We, who were born in this plight, need to attend a new set of parents. (15-216, 1965.10.10)

God's will for the world and God's love for the world have to be passed down. This must be your legacy even if you die. All you need to realize is that people who devote their lives to bequeath this tradition will become filial children and patriots. We do not need a one-day filial son, or a one-day patriot. Even the most evil robber can become a filial son for a day and anybody can also become a patriot for a day. If you repent immediately, you can still become filial children and patriots. God wants people who live as filial children and patriots from the moment they are born to the day they die.

If you compare yourself to me, then I am probably a more filial child of God than you are. The reason is that I have lived my whole life in the way that God wants. Yet, I would not even dream of assuming that I have fully carried out my filial obligations. In fact, I feel ever more inadequate with the passage of time. When people think they have fully discharged their duties of filial piety and loyalty, they actually cease to become filial children and patriots.

The person who complains, saying, "I am a filial child. I am a patriot. Why do you not recognize me?" is the person who is retreating. You must understand that Heaven's filial child and Heaven's patriot is the person who realizes, as time goes on, how much more of his filial duty remains to be fulfilled. He then renews his commitment and goal to fulfill his filial duty as his life's philosophy. (35-341, 1970.11.1)

I am not suggesting that we now need to learn about a God who is in a state of happiness. You may or may not want to do that. It is not important. What we have to know first is that we have to become filial children, patriots and virtuous women. The person who is to establish filial piety emerges out of difficulties. Loyalty is not fulfilled when a country is in a comfortable position. Loyalty is not realized when the country is enjoying prosperity and its people are well off.

A person can only be called a patriot of the nation when, at the time of his nation's greatest crisis, its gravest peril, he asks, "Will you die or will I die? Will the whole country perish or survive?" If, at this moment, he dedicates himself wholeheartedly, risks his life, fulfills his duty and successfully alters the destiny of his country, then he can be called a patriot. The historical records show that it is in the times of difficulty that the great names appear. These loyal, filial and virtuous people are remembered forever. (151-219, 1962.12.15)

Rather than turning your eyes towards your wife, you should all be thinking more about your country, which is divided between north and south. You should all be thinking about the division between the democratic world and the communist world. You must unify the north with the south and then make the free world and the communist world one. After all that, you are to unify the spiritual and physical worlds, which are separated. You must know that it is the duty of filial children to then liberate God after having accomplished all this. (115-160, 1981.11.8)

Therefore, in order to progress in the way of becoming filial children, you must endure persecution, and many trying moments. You have to become confident people who can overcome all difficulties. Rather than reverting to the path of sorrowful bitterness with thoughts of retreat, you must become people who determinedly overcome the hardships and difficulties of the ages. You must distinguish between the paths that lead to life or death, and press on to make a new start overflowing with the hope of tomorrow. You have to know that this is what God and history require of you. (1988.2.23)