The Words of Hyung Jin Moon From 2010
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The Words of Hyung Jin Moon From 2010 |
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters, good to see you today. Today we will be talking about the "Sacred Blood of the Lamb." But first I would like to give my thanks to Han Maeum Hyeolekwon, which is 'One Heart. Donation Foundation' that has come out today to help us with the Seven Deaths and Resurrections Blood Drive Training. Training that we're doing today, and what's very exciting about this is that, as Unificationists we are going to be participating in this kind of training.
Just as our True Parents shed their blood for the salvation of humankind, even for us and our families, to bless us with families and spouse, etc., in the same way, we inherit that kind of true love. And now we shed blood for the world. We give our blood to save the lives of people who are sick and dying. So it is great training to be able to not only donate blood, but to substantialize the type of heart and nature of True Parents and of God. To inherit the true love of God.
As you know, we are doing this in the name of the Unification Church, the Unification Movement, Unificationism. We are doing it in our name. Not as in the past where we did it in different names, but we are doing it very up front with our name. This is, actually in different countries, it wasn't a big problem, but here in Korea, we used to not do these kinds of activities in Tongilgyo's name. So it is such an exciting day because we can do this wonderful training, this incredible service to save people's lives in the name of the Unification Church. It is not HSA-UWC where we were the Holy Spirit Assn for the Unification of World Christianity, the foundation level where True Father had the mission to unite the Christian world, and upon that foundation to establish the kingdom of heaven. But because of the failure of the people's not becoming one with True Parents, we know that the long indemnity course had to be walked by our True Parents. We know the great suffering and the 6 imprisonments and tortures and the walk the path toward deaths had to be walked. And that indemnity had to be paid.
At the growth stage, we were able to move to the Family Federation for World Peace, not only working with the Christian realm or to try to become one with the Christian realm, but to now go beyond into different aspects of humanity and the world: politics, society, business and education. We were able to create many Peace Ambassadors around the world. But as you know, although many PAs and many education programs were done, many people could not come to True Parents, and see True Parents in their true identity as the returning Christ, as the one who comes to fulfill the mission of Jesus as the Son of God. They were only able to see him as an international educator, or a peace activist, or someone who does social work, and not come into the presence of this true reality.
But after the Coronation Ceremony of God's Kingship, and True Parents now liberate God, and now can become one and God can dwell and work in them, that is when True Father also blessed us with 'Tongilgyo,' which is different from HSA-UWC and different from Family Federation and is at the perfection stage, where now all the world transcending race and religion and creed, can become one. The word for Tongilgyo, the Unification Church, gyo is used for all other religions and faiths. The 'gyo' is the character for 'filial piety' next to the character of 'father.' And so True Father explained, there must be many filial sons and daughters around the father, for there to be true unification. And that is the incredible age that we are blessed to be in. Now we can proudly be 'Tongilgyo-indul ' Unificationists, without hiding our identity. Without diminishing our stature and to be able to be honorable, and to be able to be proud of who we are.
Here as you know, we did many activities using different names and titles. Of course as you know, we also had many different situations that occurred. We had situations in colleges where people were doing peace groups or social activities, education for peace. We did not tell people that we were the Unification Church. And when they found out, they were very disappointed and they left. They felt we were dishonest because we were hiding our identity.
We encountered many of these problems. So when we are not clear about our identity, as Unification Church members or Unificationists, then, we not only, number one, seem to lack confidence and faith in our belief as serving True Parents as the Lord of Lords, and the one whom God has sent to fulfill the mission of the Messiah, the Savior -- we not only seem like we have no confidence, but we also come into a situation where the other parties feel betrayed. As if they did not have a choice, because we didn't tell them or reveal to them that we are Unification Church, they did not have the up-front choice to say, "I want to work with you, or I don't want to work with you."
But after working together, they find out and then they somehow feel their trust has been betrayed. But it's such a happy that we can now proclaim ourselves clearly and proudly as Unificationists; tell people very straight what we believe, stand up for our human rights and religious freedom! Know our rights and move into the Age of Cheon Il Guk, where we are proud Unificationists.
We're so grateful that Han Maeum Hyeolekwon, the One Heart Blood Drive Foundation is working with us. We've been in conversation with them for the last three months, and there have been many challenges but without any religious discrimination, they have decided to work with us. Today they've sent two buses to serve our congregation, so we can donate and practice our faith. They sent four buses, two extra buses as to facilitate the process. Let's give it up one more time for Han Maeum Hyeolekwon, let's give them a big round of applause, everyone. Thank you for your services.
Brothers and sisters, today I'd like to talk about the "Sacred Blood of the Lamb." Recently I've been studying Islam, and the story of the prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. I saw an incredible story. As you know the prophet Muhammad was born into a very unstable Arabian land, where the Bedouin tribes existed. There was an extreme sense of tribalism. Because in that harsh environment, where one does not know where water is, or one does not know what kind of predicament may come the next day, it is such a harsh desert environment that literally survival depends upon tribalism, depends on being loyal to your tribe.
Accepting without question the traditions of the past, because it is through the past experience of your ancestors that you know where the waterholes are, where the oases are, where you can get water for your camels, etc. You must not question the tribe's traditions. And it was in this incredible tribalism that there was also incredible warfare. The competing tribes would do honor killings, the competing tribes would protect one another, but killing other people of other tribes was not morally equivalent or reprehensible as dishonoring one of your own tribe.
There was an intense tribalism, there were no universal human rights that we see and experience in the world today as an international community. The prophet Muhammad was born into this kind of a land, into this chaotic tribal warfare situation. He grew up with without a father, his father passed away before he was born, his mother passed away when he was six years of age, so he grew up as an orphan, under the care of his uncle. He was a merchant, a trader who led caravans out into different trade routes. He worked as a very diligent man. The Quraysh tribe was now the powerhouse of Mecca. Mecca was now one of the central cities of Arabia, it controlled many of the trade routes between various countries and was now a central resting area, a place where all pilgrims could come.
As you know in the modern-day Haj where pilgrims go to Mecca and they circumambulate the black box, the Kaaba, that box would predate the Islamic tradition. And it was a place where all of the different tribes' Gods were worshipped. All different religions, all different tribes were allowed to come into Mecca and to have peace there, to trade, and to pray, to cross the desert and come into Mecca and see something familiar, their God that they also worshipped in their homeland, to see that familiarity. The feeling of homecoming that they would experience. So Mecca was a real gathering place. But Mecca was changing, because now Mecca was growing economically in strength. It was not as impoverished as it was generations ago. And it was now involved in economic success and a growing secularism. They were able to invite different tours and caravans in to worship their Gods. And that was a source of income for the Meccan land, for Mecca as a city. It was their survival, their life stream from where it got its sustainability.
But at the age of 41, the prophet Muhammad who was then just a merchant was resting in one of the surrounding steppes and mountains around Mecca. And he was overcome with incredible terror as he saw an incredible vision of the angel Gabriel. At the time he didn't say it was Gabriel but he was overwhelmed by the incredible spiritual experience where he was filled with terror. He saw the whole heavens fill with an incredible presence and he was told to recite, recite, and recite. And that is when the words of the Koran come into existence.
He did not want to walk the path of the prophet. He was just a merchant, making his living working hard. But now he had this new path that he had to take. He went down, and you can imagine, just one second ago he was a merchant, and now he says that he has a revelation from almighty God, how people would persecute him. And that is exactly what they did. They persecuted, everybody disbelieved, his wife Kadija of course consoled him. Her cousin, Wadaka, who knew about Christianity, said that he was a prophet now. And so he garnered strength from that and continued to go forth.
But the Meccan people and the successful merchants of the town began to worry because he was preaching that there was only one God. That we cannot have all these gods. There was only one God. And they would see that there was a threat to their economic success because if you can only worship one God, that it was a threat to their economic sustainability, for if we only can worship one God, then all the tribes are not invited into Mecca to worship their many, many Gods or the tribal gods that they had and that they had built their economic foundation on. So the prophet Muhammad was vehemently attacked.
They went to his uncle and said, "Stop your nephew from doing such things". He talked to his nephew, and he said, "I cannot stop." That he had to be loyal and obedient and he surrendered completely to the will of God. His uncle decided to support him, but because of the overwhelming opposition, their tribe weakened tremendously. The uncle lost his whole fortune and eventually they had to flee Mecca because they were under attack, under the threat of death. They left Mecca into the dark Arabian night, into the harsh deserts with many assassins and Bedouins, violence rampant, and they came upon the town of Medina, where there was tribal warfare.
By the willing grace of God, they were invited into become the middle tribe, the middle people between the tribes that were fighting. And they began to gain the trust of those tribes there. The prophet Muhammad did something that was so amazing at the time: he said, we must go beyond the tribalism of our own tribes and he went around the different tribes of Medina and made a contract with them.
He said the Meccans will come to try to kill us. So we must make a contract, regardless of the tribes that we belong to, regardless of the tribal gods that we worship, if the Meccans attack, let us fight as one. He elevated them from the close-minded tribalism to now protecting each other as a community. And when the Meccans did attack Medina, at the Battle of the Trench, they were able to fend off the Meccans and be victorious. Through that many converts came, many came to believe in him as the prophet. But then, Muhammad decided to do something absolutely bold and audacious. He decided now that he would make a peace pilgrimage, taking all the Muslims to Mecca, with no weapons, under the threat of death that he would go. That is why the Muslims even today wear the white robes when they go into Mecca, in remembrance of the trek from Medina once again.
Because Mecca allowed all the different tribes to worship their gods, even though he was under the threat of death, he was able to enter Mecca to worship God and to peacefully come out and go back to Medina. But this infuriated the Meccans who had to sit and watch him do this -- the person whom they felt was destroying Mecca. One year later they attacked Medina again. And there was a battle and many Muslims died and many people in Medina and Mecca died. It was through this battle that they had to now go forth and take Mecca.
When they arrived at Mecca, because they arrived in so much force, they were able to make Mecca surrender without total destruction of the city, taking it peacefully. From that point on, the prophet Muhammad did not engage in warfare. Many people in the West don't understand; they think that he was just a warmonger, a religious fanatic. But in the area and time of all this tribal warfare, Muhammad brought peace to Arabia. By taking Mecca, he did something that was totally unthinkable at the time, even gave amnesty to his enemies. He forgave them. If the punishment was to be execution, he forgave them and gave them amnesty. At the time, this was unthinkable. And he was acting in a compassionate way.
As Muslims they worked, and did their activities. When I studied this, of course, we know that God sent Jesus not to go the path of the cross, but to build the Kingdom of God. If that is the case then Jesus would also have to be a leader of politics and a social leader, a religious and political leader and even have a military that would protect his nation, just like the prophet Muhammad. We would see in the Principle that the Kingdom of Heaven would be the balance between politics and economy, all those would work in synergy centered on God's goodness. But because of the failure of the people in Jesus' time, we know that Jesus walked the path of the cross. And that his blood was spilled, provided the way, if by through faith to provide mankind with spiritual salvation. That Jesus and the Holy Spirit could provide a four position foundation centered on God. And the believers could find spiritual salvation.
It was by that sacrificial blood that Jesus talked about in John 15:13 where he said, "No greater love there is than this than he who lays down his life for his friends." That type of Agape love has changed the world for the last 2000 years. But because Jesus went the path of the cross, we know that is why he said, that he would have to come again. And God sent the Second Advent. He sent the True Parents to come to the earth and True Parents had to walk the path of indemnity, of indemnifying all the individual, family, tribal, societal, nation, world sin, even the spiritual world sin.
They had to walk the path of even liberating God -- his anger, his anxiety, his pain, his entire internal angst. His disappointment that True Parents had to walk the path of indemnity to liberate them. They had to go through the 6 tortures of the prisons, unjustly imprisoned, walking the path of death, sacrificing their soul in the bitterest of hells, for the salvation of us. They had to shed their sacred blood so that we could find eternal life. And we could become central blessed families and have children, etc., centered on God, absolute love, life and lineage.
Brothers and sisters, we donate and participate in this training, not as just donating blood, but we do it as a religious training practice. We are donating blood today, as proud Unificationists who know our faith, who believe in True Parents, who believe that True Parents have inherited the true love of God and now we are trying to inherit that incredible type of sacrificial love. The love of the parent that can die and die and die, and forget and die and die again for their children, if the children can find eternal life. And through that heart we are donating blood today and practicing offering our prayers today.
Because each person who donates blood today will be able to save three people's lives. Every pint of blood that is donated will save three people's lives. We will substantially be working in shedding blood for the world and saving lives, healing the sick, bringing life to those who are dying. This is not just cleaning up the street, or doing service activity. We are sacrificing our blood that God has given us, that is not ours, God has given us life, and we are giving a portion to save others' lives. This is not a testament to our greatness, but is a testament to us as Unificationists in our faith, as those who want to inherit the true love of God. Let's give it up for God and True Parents! Yes! It is through their example and the blood that they have shed for us, that we have learned through that faith and example, to want to contribute to the world as a parent, from a parental perspective.
And as Unificationists, we will now be saving lives, as a religious practice and training. We will be saving lives as proud believers in True Parents as the Lord of the Second Advent. And we'll be returning glory to heaven, not on our own power but on the sacrificial, incredible true love that we have received from True Parents. By this, not only people's physical lives would be saved, but they will come to know the Unification Church, they will come to know what we believe in -- True Parents and God, whom they have served tirelessly. And through that they will find faith, they will know the one true God, they will know the Son whom He has sent, and we believe that they will have a transformational experience, where they too will be called, to inherit the true love of God.
Brothers and sisters on this day, I would like to thank the Han Maeum Hyeolek Foundation, coming out and helping us participate in this training, and let us all make this a glorious day where we can validate and acknowledge and uplift, glorify the name of the one true God, and the Son whom he has sent, the True Parents of Heaven and Earth. Let us give them glory on this day. Brothers and sisters, let's give them a big round of applause! We offer all the glory to God this day, and let us finish with our final prayer.
"Heavenly Father, thank You so much for this day. Victorious True Parents, we thank you for the life that you have lived to save us, to make us your children, to make us the children of God. Father, we thank You so much because today we have the opportunity to practice and substantialize our teaching.
Father, the blood that was shed by the sacred Lamb, the Son of God that You had sent, that had gone through the seven deaths and resurrections and tortures, and the paths of death going to hell to sacrifice even their soul for the salvation of man, Father, we pray that we may inherit this love. We know that Jesus died and even went to hell to redeem the souls and was resurrected from the grave.
But we know that True Parents had gone even through the seven deaths and had been resurrected seven times through the miraculous blessing of your true love. Father, we want to inherit that parental heart. We want to be able to be those who can live our teachings. And today, as the blood donation teams are here, let us participate so we can be those who practice our faith, who inherit the true love of God and save lives in the world. Father, we pray that You will do miracles; Father, allow people to come closer to You and to come to know You.
Father, we are so grateful that we can participate on this day. Father, we thank You so much that You allow us to become one on this day, to really offer glory to heaven and True Parents today. And Father, let this day be Yours fully and truly.
We pray these things be with us today as we donate our blood for the sake of others. And we are always remembering as we meditate and pray on the test that True Parents had to overcome in order to save us. Let us do this in the heart of humility and gratitude. We pray all of these things with great humility and an everlasting love. In our own names as blessed central families, we pray bowing before You, in our own names, Aju!"