John 10:31-36
Former Headquarters Church
Seoul, Korea
Prayer
Father, we have realized that without the desire to serve and humbly bow down to You, we can have no relationship with You in the other world of eternity. We long for the day when our heart opens to feel Your shimjung in our center, so that our body follows our mind as the subject. Please guide us to regain our lost bodies today by hearing Your voice from the depth of our hearts. Let us realize Your suffering course to find each of us and humbly bow down to You. Guide us to feel a deep gratitude toward You.
We thought that You, Father, come to us only in glory. In fact, You came in sorrow and suffering, with a face stricken with misfortune. Since we did not know this, we wanted to lay our sorrow, our sufferings and our misfortunes upon You. Please forgive us.
We should realize that we are a fallen race who cannot call You Father. You have come through such sorrows and sighs in history. We should relieve Your burden of 10,000 years. I sincerely pray that no one will be ignorant of Your path of sorrow.
You have called us today, but do we deserve it? I sincerely pray that those who are gathered here can resolve Your situation and that their hearts are filled with such matters. Please embrace us at this time. Restore Your lost grace and remove our sins. I sincerely pray for and desire this.
Father, please take dominion in this service. I am giving a speech today. Do not let the hearts of the giver and receivers be divided. We know that the one who attacks on this point is not us, but Satan. We do not want our secular minds to communicate with Satan. Therefore, please guide us to believe in Your will alone. We repent before You. Do not let us follow this path with a heart different from Yours. If there is such a heartistic gap, even to a small degree, I pray that we may all work together seriously to overcome it.
Today is a holy day. Bless those who do not yet realize Your will, the pitiful thirty million people of Korea. Bless Your children everywhere who bow down to You for the sake of the nation on this day. Have mercy on the people who are screaming and fighting, and broaden their hearts to be able to tolerate and accept one another.
Now is the time to cry with the earth for the sake of Your situation. I believe You will take those to Your side who possess Your shimjung. Please forgive our baseness. Please forgive those pitiful people who follow the enemy while professing to follow Heaven. Please forgive those foolish people who take as enemies those who are not, in fact, enemies and persecute them. Who can preserve their life? Who will shed light on their path? I earnestly pray and desire that they can truly receive Your word.
Father! We know Your heart agonizes over the fate of the nation. Father, who worries about the future of the nation, have pity on this nation, which is cornered all around by the world. Please remember those who are piling up conditions before You, as representatives of the nation. Guide us to able to plead that the whip of judgment does not descend upon this nation in the last days. I sincerely pray and desire this.
Now we have realized that we have the responsibility to, first, call upon You and then proceed. If we live, pray and plead to Heaven, and make You the center of our lives for the sake of this responsibility, we know that necessarily Your will shall be fulfilled upon the earth. Thus, I eagerly pray that You will place these people in that position.
Please come and rule over this time. We pray all these words in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Today I will speak upon the topic, "Let us Become Beloved Children and Receive the Seals."
God's Hope and I
Everyone, who has hope, desires to be at the center of hope. If God has a hope, you desire to be within this hope. The same mentality exists in a family, where all members desire to dwell within the master's heart. It is the same with a country, the world and the will of the Father, who has been restoring the creation. Thus, you should be remembered in the heart of your leader. If you are religious, you should be remembered in the heart of the religious leader. Furthermore, if there is a God, you should be remembered in the heart of God.
Instead of being remembered by God momentarily, if one is remembered eternally, taking God's hope, situation and shimjung to heart, God will tell him all His stories. Moreover, He will try to unconditionally give all the blessings He has gathered through the 6,000 painful years of the providence. You must understand that this is the Father's shimjung.
Although you were born as single individuals through your parents' lineage, you are not isolated. Heaven has ruled over religion throughout history. The world follows Heaven's way, the nation follows the fate of the world, the family follows the law of the nation, and I follow human norms. Thus, there should be a smooth relationship from Heaven to the world, from the world to the nation, from the nation through the society to the family, and from the family to me. No one can deny the existence of such a relationship. For whom are we moving now, we who stand in such a position of undeniable relationship? Where are your families going? Where are this world and this nation going? These are crucial questions, requiring our serious consideration.
We know that God has been sorrowing in regard to humankind ever since the fall of the first human ancestors. Where do you think this sorrow is flowing to? Where does it long to stay in the end? Through what historical course, what nation, and what clan, to whom has God's pain been transmitted? Through what historical course and for what relationship has God's hope been moving? It is not the world, not a country, not a family; it is none other than me. You must know clearly that God's hope is realized from me, the single individual. Therefore, if there is no foundation in me acknowledged by Heaven, no matter how good Heaven is, I have no relationship with it. If there is no standard in me, though a world-renowned theory may appear, it will bear no relationship with me. Have you ever felt such a fact thoroughly through your shimjung, body, bone and flesh, that the historical sorrow, suffering and difficulty are determined centered on "me"? If not, your ancestors will accuse you, for they have gone through the path of death with blood and tears.
What a Person Should Feel and Find First
We have the tradition and connection left behind by the believers in history. If anyone forgets this, it would be an ungrateful betrayal of the universe, which incorporates the heavenly way and the human way. Now is the time to realize this.
In the internal life of faith, what is the first thing you should feel and find before the heavenly way? It is not joy, happiness nor glory. Since humanity has brought sorrow to Heaven, the first thing to find is heavenly sorrow, which has been ruling the earth. You should know that despite time and place, the seekers of the truth are the ones who are carrying the cross and establishing the altar of heavenly appeal under unjust oppression to remove the heavenly tears.
Why does Heaven drive its beloved children out to the path of the cross? It is so that the heavenly connection may reach me, through the world, the country, the nation, the society and the family. It is so that the connection of the world directly reaches us. Thus, you must feel God's shimjung, which must have you experience in your single lifetime the sorrow of 6,000 years to establish you as God's children.
When God created the Garden of Eden, He wanted there to be eternal happiness, but the blessing of Eden totally disappeared due to the fall of man. Thus, God became a God of sorrow, rather than one of happiness. He has been trying to regain the country and the entire blessing of the universe while being persecuted by the country and people. Since God's bitter course throughout history is entangled with human tragedy, His sighs and His situation are deeply related to you. Since this is the responsibility of humanity and Heaven, in seeking God, man must know God's sorrow. We can defeat the myriad satans with God's anguish, sorrow and grief. You must realize that without experiencing such an historical shimjung, you cannot fight against the enemy.
Certainly people agonize over lost property. Some mourn over lost children. Though there are many who bewail a loss of earthly valuables, there is no one who bewails a loss of the self and of God. Few indeed grieve over the loss of the self, which cannot be exchanged even for the universe, and of God, who is more glorious than the universe.
For the seeker of truth, sorrow is not in losing material property. It is in having lost the self and Heaven. The path of the truth, which is to find God, is the path of finding sorrow. That is why Jesus said, "Follow me with a cross on your back." Therefore, we can stand before the Father only when our sorrow, anguish and anger can replace His. The Father's footsteps have been such in the 6,000 years. In order for you who are connected with the historical providence to make the connection with God, the center of the historical providence, you must be able to bear such sorrow, agony and grief.
This is the way of Heaven. Although the historical ages are strewn with sorrow, God has been walking this path to fulfill His will: that is, to find all things, all people, His children and God's own self. God is not operating fully as God because He lost Heaven and earth through the fall of man. He lost power, dignity and authority. The movement to restore this is the standard of human norms and the heartistic standard of the seekers of the truth. By all means, we must regain the lost universe.
The Situation of the Present World and the Task of the Children
What then must I do? I must resolve God's sorrow by restoring myself, my family, my society, my country, the world and the universe into being acceptable to God. In this way, I should dominate all things with God's authority and serve God. This is the crucial task you should pursue throughout your life. If you cannot relate to God this way, you will have nothing to do with God, even when God comes to the world, the country, the society or the family.
Throughout history, all the ideologies moved according to the way of Heaven. Many ideologies have merged, and now we have a world of one global ideology. By principle, when two ideologies fight, one is inevitably crushed. We should know that now is not a time for a two- dimensional battle centering on humanity. It is a time for a three- dimensional battle centering on Heaven, and this time the spirit world is waiting to attack us. That is why there are many phenomena of the last days all over the world. For instance, there are many mental patients and nervous phobias. Just as Adam had intense fear right after the fall because of the sin of betraying Heaven, this world is filled with people suffering from extreme fear.
This world is losing its guiding ideology. It is useless to insist on one's own way. You are in the last days of the universe, in which everything is swayed back and forth in chaos, without the center. At this turning point of history, what should you do? What should you do, beholding the world and the nation, which are falling down? To be the one God can proudly present before the nation and the universe, I must make a father-son relationship with God and follow God's ideal to dominate the creation.
However, we are blocked in front. In the back, it is incomprehensible. There are enemies on either side. Wherever we go, there are enemies who try to destroy us. We must protect ourselves at this time, protect Heaven and the heavenly way, and deflect the satans. Heaven, the master of the universe, and all things must have an ideal and want to realize it through one person.
For those who have gone out to find Heaven, there is no happiness in the process. There is no satisfaction. If there is satisfaction, he is not genuinely searching for Heaven. By Principle, agony and sorrow should come first. That is, joy will appear only after one experiences sorrow, pain and grief. That is why Christianity refers to the day of sweeping away the history of the 6,000 years as Judgment Day.
Why does Heaven come to us with sorrow, pain and grief? It is not to ruin you. It is to make you children of Heaven. A child shares blood and flesh, ideology and the ideal. You should move forward on that reciprocal base with Heaven.
The Two Sorrows of God
Who shattered our father-son relationship with God? Sadly, this relationship cannot be restored with heavenly strength or with our strength alone. There must be nothing that provokes your anger more. We should be the children who can feel the sorrow, pain and grief of losing the loving Father and being unable to serve, meet or follow the parents who should be served eternally. Coming down the road of misfortune, God has been trying to find people who could share joy as His children, but we knew nothing about His sorrow. We are unable to be called children of God due to our fallen lineage, though theoretically we are sons with an inseparable blood relationship. In real life, we have countless elements of the enemy within us.
Thus, God has two kinds of sorrow. One is having lost the son and the other is not being able to regain the relationship. We should feel that we are the sinner of sinners and the debtor of debtors to have generated such woe in God. We must repent and work hard for having put God through 6,000 years of toil.
The relationship of father and son is based on shimjung, which can never disappear from the heart, even with all the denials and unworthiness of being called a son. The relationship centering on eternal love flows on as the affectionate shimjung that even God cannot deny. The tragedy is that even with such a shimjung, God cannot freely call us sons and daughters.
Our sorrow is nothing compared to that of God. Do not rejoice over having much money. Having good external conditions does not gladden the heart. You should know that the more material affluence you have, the more indemnity conditions you will incur, which will bring you down. Is there anyone on the earth who can confidently say, "I can be a child of God because I have given up everything"?
Looking at the sky, we should be able to feel the grief of humankind, which prostrates itself and cries out before the tears of God. We should be able to feel the woe of all things, which scream out, pierced by God's tearful shimjung and sighs. We should also experience the Father's sorrow and pain. We must know the mistreatment He has suffered. Only when we dominate the earth with the ideal of Heaven can we fulfill His will.
Since this world is fallen, you cannot meet God. Since there is the heavenly principle of creation and the cosmic heavenly standard, God cannot come directly to man, ignoring these principles. Thus, in the Old Testament Age, humankind and animals were connected through sacrificial objects. In the New Testament Age, Jesus was the sacrifice. Through Jesus, humanity and all things and humanity and Jesus were to make the connection. Heavenly blessing was attained by Jesus, the son of God, going through an extremely sad situation. This made the connection between Jesus and humankind.
Now what needs to be established is the relationship of father and son. For this, the father must be struck for the sake of the son. This way, the connection should be made from all people to the subjects, and from the subjects to the son, and from the son to God. This is the law of God, who is restoring happiness, glory and the ideal.
To Become Children Acceptable to God and Achieve Complete Restoration
Where should this relationship be made? This relationship should not be made in the spirit world, but on the earth. That is why it is emphasized that Heaven is the groom and the earth is the bride. This is an undeniable connection. The shimjung by which humanity feels this never changes. No one can transcend this shimjung, regardless of whether he lived thousands of years ago or lives 10,000 years from now. The groom sets up one absolute standard. By establishing the bride's name as a condition, he spreads the connection toward sons and daughters. He then regains the earth, subjects, the substance of children and parents. This is restoration.
Thus, to make the connection between humankind and all things, all things are offered as a sacrifice. To make the connection between the subjects and the son, the son is sacrificed. To make the connection between the son and the father, the father must carry the cross. Looking at such a process of establishing the ideal, since we have the responsibility to restore this historical process through indemnity once and for all, now is the last day of finding myself through the Father.
In the Old Testament Age, salvation was possible by sacrifices centering on the priest and keeping the law. In the New Testament Age, salvation was attained by believing in Jesus. From now on, however, one must believe in God, our Father, to whom we are connected through an eternally undeniable standard, undeniable because it is rooted in our blood and flesh.
In this woeful course that repeats the 6,000 years of history, when sons and daughters appear whom God can acknowledge as His own, not only in mind but in body, they will realize God's tears which were shed for the world and teach the ignorant people. They will understand the tearful situation of God, of which people have been unaware throughout history.
Who will be the one who understands God's shimjung, representing all people, Heaven and earth? It will be he who knows the distance- transcending and unlimited heavenly shimjung. It will be the one who knows a parent's loving, eternal heart toward the children, who says, "Father, Your sorrow is mine. Your agitated shimjung is my shimjung. Give me the cross."
Do you know the plight of Heaven, who has to take up the painful cross again? We should be able to feel God's shimjung toward the nation and all the historical shimjung of the ancestors who struggled for the sake of God, the earth, the subjects and the son.
In agony, Paul sighed and said, "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" (Romans 8:35) This means that Paul was aware of God's love in Christ. Jesus is also a bride before God. Jesus, our groom, even needs God's love. The position of the bride and groom is external. Complete restoration starts with all things and ends with the restoration of the children. Thus, one must meet the Holy Spirit and Jesus through the position of husband and wife. He then must move on to say, "Father, bless me in place of the lost children of the Garden of Eden." We must become the children who, without a speck of the fall, can become the true ancestors of humankind and receive the blessing, free of the bitterness of the fall.
What would be the grief of God? It is the fact that though He cried with the earth and the subjects, He has not shed tears of joy with a victorious son. In other words, God's sorrow is that there is no one who can be acknowledged as a victorious son. Moreover, there has not even been one person who has cried with God, who has wandered about tirelessly to find the lost children.
Children Who Can Receive the Heavenly Seals
When one is trying to find his lost child, even if he is the prime minister of a state, his dignity is not in consideration. He will burst into tears, clasping his hands and body, ignoring his reputation and dignity, not caring even if he is a beggar. The fact that such a scene has never occurred between God and humanity from the time of creation is the sorrow of God, all things and humankind.
At the time of sacrifice, humanity ascended through sacrificial objects. At the time of the national providence, he ascended by following a leader. Following a leader was the sacrifice. Next he ascended by believing in Jesus. From now on, he must believe in the True Parents. In other words, he must become a true son or daughter of the True Father. Now you must struggle on your hands and knees to follow the path.
The ideal of the 6,000 years is now to bear its fruit on earth. When will the leader appear on earth who can cry with the earth, with the people and with Jesus? Humankind desires that the substantial being appear and join the history that was separated stage by stage. Humankind wishes that a substantial being appear who represents the ideal of the entire universe and touches the heart of the Father and the bride and groom. Humankind desires a leader to appear whose shimjung can connect to all people and arouse and preserve the heart that can cry with the earth. We should serve this one person in place of Heaven, Jesus, all people and the earth. Like him, we should become able to cry with and love the earth, people and God. Thus, God's grieving shimjung should turn into a joyful one.
In this way, you should receive approval from the Trinity, from all the saints, and even from satanic people, as well as from the Father. By zealously fighting to resolve God's grief, representing the historical shimjung as a child long sought with sighs for 6,000 years, you must be established as the son who took revenge upon Satan and be confirmed as God's beloved child. Only then can you receive the seal.
Christians talk about the 144,000. Words are easy. The heavenly children who set up the conditions for restoration and manage the heavenly providence and receive the seals, do Christians quite fit these words? The one who can receive the heavenly seals must have the shimjung to cry with the earth for Heaven. In other words, to receive the seals, you should be able to cry with the people, endure suffering and mistreatment for the sake of Heaven, heal the historical sorrow of God and all the inequities of man, and overcome all trials.
From where should we receive the seals? We receive the seals from God. We should receive it from God's shimjung, from God's situation, from my family and from society. We should clearly know that we can receive the seals only when we find the unifying point of God's historical shimjung.
Prayer
Father, shall we say that our path is long and rugged? Please guide us to realize that our hearts cannot compare with Your aching shimjung. Our mistreatment cannot compare with Your steps through the formidable satanic realm. Amid our tribulations, grant us a seething desire to take responsibility for Your will. Amid our sorrows, make us Your children who can befriend and accompany You on Your woeful journey of history. Make us friends of Your shimjung who suffer because we feel the historical anguish with You. Make us Your eternal objects of joy who can befriend You in Your anger and Your internal and external sorrow.
We realize that, above all, we ourselves, who wander after blessings, are the problem. We have realized that if one cannot find sorrow in his heart, he can never find happiness. If he tries to avoid inevitable pain, he can never escape from the pain. For those who have lost the patience to overcome anger and grief, help them realize that without patience, they cannot avoid pain. We have understood the heavenly principle by which the blessing of the day comes only after going over the hills of sorrow, pain and bitterness. Now grant us the ability to say in tears, holding onto the Father's shimjung, earth and all things: "Father, Your sorrow is my sorrow, and Your pain is my pain. Give me all Your burdens. You stand in the place of happiness."
Since we know that there is the inseparable relationship of father and son in which both agony and affection can be shared, make this a time when we can be accepted by You. We know Your shimjung, which desires to use victorious sons to restore the universe. Guide us so that we can appear carrying that shimjung. Make us Your children who can gratefully keep Your way, whatever sacrifices we make or whatever road of death we tread. Make us those who will fulfill Your will, by all means, without ever betraying You. We pray all this in the name of the Lord. Amen.
