Luke 15:11-32
Former Church Headquarters
Seoul, Korea
Prayer 1
Having struggled hard in the darkness, we have gathered once again this day, longing for the Father. Please enable our minds to abide with Yours now. Please enable our minds and bodies to move as one with You.
Heedless of Your own limitless toil, You endured much to accompany our ancestors throughout the different eras and centuries. We also know that You took many pains to open up a new path for our ancestors. Nevertheless, our ancestors trampled underfoot the meritorious deeds of Heaven, which were accomplished with such toil. They became shameful by causing Your heart concern. Please forgive them.
We have learned that the sins of our ancestors are a matter of great and lasting regret. We know that the rueful deeds of the Fall have caused countless human beings to fall into misery for six thousand years. We are afraid that we might inherit the wayward minds of our ancestors, who throughout history betrayed and grieved the heart of the Father. We are in the final days, when we must go over the hill of regret due to the Fall and tread down the bitter resentment our ancestors left behind. We must rise up. Please allow our minds to be stimulated by Your mind now. Father, I ardently wish and pray that You will allow us the hour of glory when our bodies can represent Yours.
Who is to make the tearful appeal, having harmonized with the Father's heart? Who is to fight representing the Father's situation? Countless people are living on this earth, and each person lives in their own respective style. However, there are very few people who know that the Father has been going through the history of sorrow again and again because there has been no region or person who could reciprocate with Him in the matters of the heart He keeps within His bosom. Since we now know this sorrowful and bitter inner heart of the Father, please let this be the hour when we relieve our minds and unburden ourselves, grafting everything onto Him.
Father, let this be the hour when we allow absolutely nothing of ourselves. Let us rejoice only where we have been grafted onto the Father. We cannot help but appeal to the Father with all our hearts now.
These humble people have knelt down this day in honor of the heavenly emotion. My Father, You who understand our pitiful situation, You who have accompanied us and fought in miserable circumstances for us, please receive us. We have prostrated ourselves before You with concentrated minds. We are aware that we must belong to You and be governed by You. That is why we have come forth, heedless of the long years we have toiled along life's journey to attend You with our hearts and souls. That is why we have come, patiently scaling even the difficult and regrettable peak of danger.
It was to leave history behind that we came forth to endure this path. We are aware that You have never ignored those who sought You; You did not reject Your enemies; You took pains to put those who asked in the position of Your friends. Father, today we wish to ask with all our minds, to seek with all our hearts, and to bind with You, offering all that we have. Therefore, please look at us with compassion. Please realize our demands; please realize the objectives we seek and our wishes as we knock at Your door. Hear our entreaties, Father. I pray this from the bottom of my heart.
The one thing we unworthy people eagerly look forward to is to have a moment in which we can rejoice with the Father's mind. That is all we ask. That is all we have and all of our life. Father, please look with compassion at Your sons and daughters who are gathered here in this hour.
Father, please set us upon the path of life and guide our steps upon it. We appreciate that You have guided us in enduring difficulties until today, that You have helped us forbear persecution and have taken pains to work through us. You have taken us in hand that we might not leave behind bitter regrets; You did this even when we fell down. Today, many sons and daughters have gathered here to offer their hearts and devotion once again to You. Father, please be good enough to visit each mind personally. Please be present in their hearts. Please, if possible, graft heavenly life into theirs.
It is high time we fulfilled the mission of the final days, to march forward against the enemy with the bitter pain of God deeply penetrated in our hearts. Father, reveal Your authority and appear to us with the power of life.
Since we are trying to alleviate Your grievous resentment at the risk of our lives, please allow us to go forth with the principles of love. Allow us to be brave soldiers who can step forward before the Subject of love and fight the enemy. Father, I ardently pray and wish that by doing so, we may become the children who have such life that all of creation on this earth can recognize our abundance and commence life in the restored garden.
Please allow us to repent for being self-righteous about our faith. Let us have the mind to reflect on our conduct and repent. Let us put aside our high hopes and repent; let us put aside the part of us that mocks the inner heart we have sought. Father, when we do so, I sincerely wish and desire that we may come to the glorious state of denying all that we have and giving it all to You, calling upon You. We desire to attain this through Your guidance.
Father, please look at the Korean peninsula with compassion. Many nations have trampled upon this land throughout all different eras. This land has been left to the mercy of its enemies. We know that the thirty million people of this nation harbor the bitterness of such a bloody history in their hearts. Father, please let Your heart be uppermost in theirs. Let the circumstances of these people be tied to your circumstances. Guide the people to want what You want. Please don't let us be resentful about the sorry past. Beloved Father, I pray sincerely that we may be Your concerned sons and daughters who can beg You to usher in the time of Heaven that approaches so nearly.
Father, You have visited this nation above other nations because it has a heavenly history. Please do not let the time come when Your footsteps turn from us in lamentation and sorrow. Father, I pray from the bottom of my heart that You will not let us be the land and the people who leave behind sorrow and regrets.
The 2.7 billion people of the world lie in slumber, not knowing that You are preparing the moment of happiness through enlightenment. We know that we have the mission to awaken these people. We have the mission to build a new ideal Kingdom of Heaven by surmounting the complex human condition. We have the mission to build a land of bliss. Today, we unworthy, imperfect and insufficient people have knelt down on our knees, our minds fraught with awe and reverence, and with guilty consciences. Please bestow the wonderful grace of Heaven upon us through our appealing hearts in this hour. Father, it is my sincere wish and desire that You will manifest Yourself in this hour and get rid of all that is not of such a heart. When we offer all that we have to You, we hope You can acknowledge us as Your successors.
Father, the members in Seoul and the district members have gathered before You to build a new altar. Please look at Your young sons and daughters with compassion. Allow us to know Your situation, which You cannot speak about, although You have so many words of counsel and comfort for us. We have gathered here as Your sons and daughters. We cannot help but inform You, Father, of our sorrowful hearts. We are being hounded this way and that on account of the heavenly will, with no regard for our sorrow, our loneliness, our oppression and despair.
Allow us to unburden ourselves and talk things over with You today. Let us reveal all our circumstances to You and reach a mutual understanding. Father, I ardently wish and pray that You will allow this to be a time when we shed all the circumstances of our difficult pasts before You. By becoming people in whom You can take delight, we pray to be able to vow: "I will be a pure, sacrificial offering for the sake of this path even at the risk of my life."
We understand that the heavenly will cannot be accomplished by words alone; nor can it be accomplished only by devotion. We long to have minds and hearts that deeply resonate with Your will. We long to make frantic efforts for the sake of Heaven, forgetting everything else. We want to bow our heads with awe-stricken hearts that there is a moment and a place wherein we can sing glory to the Father with such longing hearts. Thus, Father, I pray that You will visit us in this hour, knowing how sincere our intentions are and how ardent our hearts.
We know that one who has not gone the path cannot know it; that the words of a man without experience are lifeless. We know that You drove the Korean people into their miserable circumstances today that we might know Your pitiful circumstances. We know You are lonely and dejected. We also know of Your sorrow and great indignation that You have no choice but to allow us to be persecuted.
Please come and visit our minds so that they may become Yours today. We have come to this place because we want to become people who attend You in our hearts. We want to be able to cry together with You. We regret our past mistakes because we have come to know You, Father. We feel deeply sorry about our pasts. We are dejected. Father, Your position is such that You must accept us and forgive us regardless of how we behave and how waywardly we do things. We must regret having left behind a history of bitterness that needs to be restored. Realizing our state, please guide us to be able to go forth clinging only to Heaven. Let us not cease in the life of hard struggle today or tomorrow. We know that You know our state very well. If we can eschew everything and control our own minds, please allow us to be the living sacrifices offered before Your dignified presence.
Please bestow the gift of new life upon Your sons and daughters who are appealing, prostrated before You, throughout the country today. By sending them to the wasteland, let them light a lamp of life. Father, I ardently wish and desire that You can receive their respectful homage in this hour and that they can appear as beacons of light and glory.
Each of their circumstances is different. Through one of Your miraculous works, let their circumstances become the same. By ruling over this hour, please get rid of everything that is not of You. Allow us to make this an hour the triune God can take delight in. I pray all these words in the name of the Lord. Amen.
Prayer II
Father, You know our heart before we tell You. We realize that the Father is present in person with us this hour at least. Please allow us to feel that this is when Heaven attends to everything that concerns us.
Father, You went through the toilsome historical course. Please manifest Yourself before our eyes today. Refurbish us with new words. Relate to us with a new heart. We want to cleanse everything that is inadequate and offer everything we have with a child-like mind in the dignified presence of the Father. Please let us lay bare before You all the formalities, doctrines and concepts which influence us from this world. Allow us to have child-like, meek and humble minds. We are trying to offer ourselves to You, having equipped ourselves with humble, malleable minds. Please receive us. Triune God, please move us.
Father, please do not tolerate any elements of satanic opposition to Heaven within us. Let our victory be a shield against Satan. Please do not let Satan invade in this hour. I pray with the most sincere possible heart that You will allow this place to be an altar which conducts blessing as we respectfully bow before You with blissful hearts as heavenly soldiers watch over us. Let this altar bring our whole lives to victory.
We entrust everything to You, Father. Please let us lay bare all of our opinions and hearts before You. I pray in the name of the Lord that You will let this be the hour when everything we have is converted to the Father's. Amen.
Prayer III
Please look with compassion upon Your sons and daughters who are bowing their heads in this hour. Who is going to be a leader among them? Who is going to represent Heaven and the words of truth? This congregation wants only the Father, so please manifest Yourself personally. Allow us to experience Heaven through our hearts. Allow us to experience Your circumstances, which we cannot help but feel. Please work in us so that we cannot help but have repentful hearts before You.
We know that when people gather, things may get entangled among them in spite of efforts to disentangle them. However, we also know that gathering together centered upon Heaven has a softening effect on the mind. Please arouse in us a deeply reflective mind which can repent for our past mistakes and long for a new day through the works of indemnity, repentance and inspiration. This can untangle at the deepest level all the entanglements of the sinful tribes of humanity. Please allow the miracle of re-creation to take place in this hour by our repenting from a deeply reflective mind. Father, I offer this wish from the depth of my heart.
Since I am about to deliver the words, please extend Your hands of love and protection over those gathered here in this hour. We know that the minds of the receivers and the mind of the deliverer must act as one, in unity. We do not want to be impatient for the happiness of the body; nor do we wish to live only in the mind's intoxication. We want the garden where there is nothing but heart. We want to live there forever. Father, I pray with a most sincere heart that You will allow a connection of heart to explode within the depths of each of us even as we live to make such a condition, and that it may dwell in us more deeply.
Father, many words have been delivered to Your sons and daughters before. Our path is to carry out the responsibility and mission, unified by these words. Father, please be with us and protect us so our path will not be blocked. Please let these words help in harvesting fruits for the Father's inner heart. If not, Father, I sincerely wish and desire that You will allow us to fear leaving behind regrets before Heaven because of the words received.
Since this is a holy day, please bestow the grace of blessing upon all. I know that there are many sons and daughters building secret altars, appealing to Heaven, clinging to Your heart for the sake of the will. Please bless them, too.
We are the throng of people who struggle hard, embracing the lonely heart of the Heavens. Even the numerous spirits in the spirit world, who look forward to the day when the payment of indemnity alleviates their resentment, are connected to us. Father, please allow their concerns to come to a good result because of us.
Please guide us not to call upon You without correcting the deficiencies which put us below the standard of heart which the triune God looks for and waits eagerly for. Please raise us in this hour to be the happy people who can call upon the Father from a position of having made up our deficiencies. Since we are not in such a state of grace, I earnestly hope and desire that You will guide us in this hour to become sons and daughters who can attract the Father's heart of compassion and mercy by being meek and humble as children.
Please bless the members who are scattered throughout the country on this day. Since they are also appealing to You, solicitous of Heaven's time, please grant the grace of life to them. Earnestly soliciting this, I pray all these words in the name of the Lord. Amen.
The title of the sermon I want to offer is "The Path in Search of the Original Homeland." I will speak upon this topic.
People in Search of Their Original Homeland
The people of this world are impatiently waiting for peace. Furthermore, everyone without exception wishes to enjoy freedom. Everyone wishes to live in a free society, a free nation and a free world.
Without peace and freedom of mind, I can never have true happiness. If a man wishes to walk the path of the true life, he will want to enjoy true happiness and will praise the blessings of liberty and true peace.
Assuming you want to walk the path of the true life, what position are you in? The final days are when you have to be clear about whether you are acting in concert with this desire or not. That is my opinion.
Today, everyone without exception, be they great or small, say with one voice that this is not a world of peace. Although they shout for freedom, they admit that the world is not a free environment where they can live with love. For that reason, we cannot deny that we have not the happiness we desire so in our minds.
We know too well what we are like, what society is like, what the world is like, what history has been, and that this is the reality now.
Since we must acknowledge that this is true, no one can dispute that we are not in the original homeland where we can rejoice. We are not able to live in the garden of the original homeland where we can sing the praises of happiness. We are not able to live in the world of the original homeland where we can move and have dominion as we please.
We wait impatiently for happiness, peace and freedom. At the same time, our minds and the environment push us. You may feel this quite acutely in your life.
The world of the original homeland that we wish for has not been attained on the internal or the external level. Humanity is unable to live in that world. For that reason, humanity today is making frantic efforts to search for the original homeland. We must know clearly that this is humanity's situation. Great men as well as fools must struggle hard to seek the original homeland. You must realize that no human being can escape the historical current of wandering on the path in search of the original homeland. That is why I speak on this topic.
Where Can We Find the Path that Leads to the Original Homeland?
Sages and wise men have come to this earth and pointed out the way to live. They have said, "Go this way," or "Live according to this principle." So saying, they would establish a direction for people. It might be a philosophical way; it might be a way established by the ideology of a sovereign power. It might be a social and moral view. It might be a religious direction which tried to connect the eternal ideology to the external world. The ideology would instruct: "Individuals must go this way; families must go this way; personal relationships must be based on this."
All such ideologies must prepare for the time of happiness that the comprehensive, cosmic ideology will point to. Otherwise, they will depart from the heavenly way when it is established through elucidation.
If that is the case, how can we find peace and freedom and the world of happiness on the paths religions, codes of conduct, or philosophical ideas have led us to? Human feelings are universal. The feelings people had several thousand years ago are the same as those which will arise a hundred million years from now. The world of feelings does not change.
Do you ever wonder if a world in which mankind has the same feelings and attains the garden of happiness is possible on earth? Do you ever wonder if there is such a social standard or religious rite through which man can taste such happiness? If there is no such thing, where is God? If there is no such thing, God cannot be with humanity.
There are heavenly laws which unfold the dispensation by directing humanity to pursue goodness. This is done by setting up ethics and moral principles. There is no doubt that Heaven definitely directs all that is related and connected to us. Furthermore, the day will come when all people take a cheerful view of this in their hearts. The time will come when we say loudly and in unison that this is our happiness, this is our peace, and this is our freedom. If that does not happen, neither God nor any great man of thought will have anything to do with us. You must know this.
When we study a person, it is possible to analyze him or her both internally and externally. When we study the situation of society, we also learn that there are social organizations we know about and ones which we do not know about, although they are planned and they exist. Everything develops both internally and externally.
The same principle applies to man. Man is influenced simultaneously by external as well as internal circumstances. Therefore, the world has to become the environment in which people have mutual understanding and sing of happiness in communion with one another. The path of our lives leads us to wander about in search of such an environment.
Many sages and wise men have come and gone in history. However, no one found the victorious motto and sang on his own life path, appealing to the world: "People of the world! Go this way!" No one has said, "Rely on me, and live this way with my heart and love."
Although Jesus talked about love, he left without being able to shed light upon the happiness, peace and the ideology of freedom which are centered upon love. "Follow me, believe in me, and come to me," Jesus said. However, he could not say, baring his heart, "Let us act in concert with my heart and live, singing, centered upon the heavenly emotions."
For that reason, although many prophets have come and gone in the course of history, no one has brought the message which could bring happiness centered upon heart, which could unify the world centered upon freedom and peace, connected with the heart of Heaven.
Where does humanity eagerly yearn to be? In the world of the original homeland, as I said before. It is the world from which you never want to return. It is the world you never get tired of, even after seeing it numerous times. It is the world where the touch you once felt never disappears; the world where you could laugh forever. It is the world where once you found the master, you could never let him go. Such a place could exist.
The Reality of Those Who Long for the Original Homeland
This is where individuals with heart can live. This original homeland is to be introduced in the final days of human history. If not, this world will not be saved. You must realize that the time is coming when an ideology or doctrine should be established which can introduce the whole thing on a logical basis. We long for the world of the original homeland where we can live forever as brothers and sisters and a family in the garden.
Is there anyone among you who can say, "I have found such an original homeland"? No. Therefore, we are destined to seek it. Jesus came as the Savior and showed the way to the original homeland, yet he could not bring the garden of the original homeland into reality and invite us to live there together with him. God is leading humanity forward, unfolding the dispensation. He says, "Let's go to the garden of the original homeland, the one we wish for and live for." But He cannot say, "Come live there together with me" yet. Since God and Jesus are so destined, so are each of you living on earth today.
Members of the congregation, breathless from your journey, has anyone ever had such a day of happiness? Has anyone had such a day and sung out of joy? No, no one. Has God ever enjoyed such a day? No. Is there some kind of principle that can lead you to such a day? No. Even Heaven has not enjoyed such a day. This is the situation of Heaven and earth.
The man of conscience, who cannot live apart from the fate of Heaven and earth, must feel and experience God's heart as he seeks the way. Your mind may be sincere in its pursuit of happiness, yet the further you walk, the more happiness itself is moving a far distance from you. It might seem that you have arrived at the end of your hard journey, ardently wishing for freedom, peace and happiness. Yet in the light of reality, your mind is full of indistinct contents and happiness is at a far, unreachable distance.
We must become the independent people who can withstand the course we sooner or later must go and sing of the original homeland of happiness. We must usher in the day when we can call the whole cosmos to unite with us, sing with us, and rejoice with us. That is the goal of history and the purpose of religion. The Creator Himself has such a goal in mind. Humanity has not yet been able to overcome this providence; therefore, everyone has to go this way.
Since both the great and the foolish must go this same path of human life, we must not brag about being great or having a fine environment. We must not vaunt ourselves for having influence. Even with all of that, we still have to go the path of human life. We still cannot attain the world of the original homeland, even with all of those things. Why? Because today's humanity must pursue a certain direction.
Heaven has unfolded the dispensation in this way. We have been taught which direction to take through righteousness and truth, not through emotion. Heaven could not teach us the actual emotions of happiness we could feel in real life, the peace and freedom we could actually attain while living. The providence of God has held these things out to human beings as a dimly perceived hope.
Whether we are great or foolish, sorrowful or happy, we may have freedom for a day or a year throughout our lives. Yet since one cannot escape the human fate, happiness, peace and freedom remain a vague hope. This is the way Heaven looks at it.
What Jesus Could Not Achieve on Earth
Because of this, everyone is in a pitiable state. The time has come for a man to stand before humankind and teach them how pitiable they are. This is needed. The time has come for a leader who can command the people to be concerned about themselves. The time has come for a leader who can shed light on how lamentable it is to be in such a pitiable state and how the people must weep over this, clinging to Heaven and earth. He must lead them to think about what their end is, where are they going, and how they can triumph over the ever-changing environment and reach the end of the journey.
Revolutionary new cultures have appeared during certain historical periods. The people who led them had a new ideology, a new purpose, new happiness, and new freedom. These people toiled to stop the patterns of the times in which they lived and to shed light upon the pitiable state of man. They were people of mission who influenced their respective times and were needed during a specific era or age.
Our era is the age of a new world. Therefore, something new must appear which can galvanize the people of the world and say, "You should be an example for humanity. You should feel sorry for remaining as you are and not knowing where to go."
Jesus came two thousand years ago and said that he was the son of God. The Jews, who took pride in being the chosen people, could not apprehend the appearance of the Messiah, in spite of the fact that they had eagerly awaited him. They had received the benefits of numerous prophets in their long historical course of four thousand years. Yet only after they sent Jesus to the cross did they realize that he was the Messiah, and they were placed in a sorrowful position.
We call Jesus the Savior. What kind of savior? A confident savior who could say, "I will take your sorrow upon myself." He said, "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." (Matt. 11:28) We should be grateful for those words. Those were the words of the greatest prophet, for the sake of humanity.
If there are young men and women who were anxiously trying to understand themselves, with sorrowful hearts, they should step forward before those words with their hands lifted high. They should say, "Thank you, Jesus, for having come and said those words before leaving two thousand years ago. God, thank you for giving us those words through Jesus." They should be grateful for the spirit and direction of those words.
Now we need a central figure who can take charge of this nation and this world. We need someone who can release that burden of heart. Because such a need exists, Jesus promised he would come again.
What did Jesus not accomplish? Though he came to bear all the burdens, all the crosses of humanity, he could not bear the burden of the hearts of humanity alone. That is why the people of the world today are eagerly waiting for the day when they can entrust the burden of heart to Jesus, saying, "Lord, we welcome you."
We have inherited the historical misery. Someone must come who can block our way and block the way of the world in which we live, someone must block the flow of history, saying, "Recognize your sorrowful situation. Recognize how pitiable you are. Recognize your lamentable state."
We are walking a course of life that we cannot comprehend. Therefore, we live in fear which originates from our ignorance of what is going to happen to us. Where is the end of our journey? We are walking a course of life that we cannot explain. We are being dragged forward without discretion. You must go the course, knowing that you may run into a rock or go over a cliff. How will you feel? You will be sick to your stomach. Among you are people who have lived forty, seventy, eighty years. Some of you might brag that you have attained happiness, but no one has overcome the true life path. That is why we are all pitiful.
The One We Must Find
Now we must find someone who can link his own pitiable circumstances with those of the world. My sense of loneliness must become connected with the world. My sense of being stifled and wanting, which for some unknown reason penetrates deeply in my mind, must become connected with the world. The time is coming when this worn shimjung will get connected with the world. We must find the one who can elucidate the whole thing, someone who can take charge of my misfortune, my pitifulness, my loneliness and my resentment. Going a little further, we must find the one who can introduce the world of the ideal that I long for, the one who can let me enjoy fully and forever the heart I have wanted to feel in the world of happiness, peace and freedom. We must find the one who can let that heart, which is associated with eternity, bring happiness to everything in the corporeal world. If someone has met such a one, his life would be a successful one.
I know and believe that Jesus and God let us feel so, and that we can experience them in the sorrowful world. You should stop in your tracks if you think you know all there is to know. You should search for the one who teaches the secret method by which you can withstand what you must go through.
In order to do that, one has to overcome the circumstances he is faced with. He must go beyond his own hope, be well aquatinted with the circumstances, and be able to understand the heart. When our problems are resolved by God in reality, then we can believe in Him without anxiety.
Only when you are equipped with the ideology of such a heart can you stave off the emotion felt in such a world. You can do this even when you run up against grief in the weary course of life. If there is something which grows stronger when struck and beaten, which can resist betraying Heaven, something that is felt through the relationship of heart, it will not be taken possession of even if driven into the bottom of hell. Such a position must surely exist.
God's dispensation is directed toward one place, the original garden. That is why the providence of God who rules over history has come to establish the one standard through a course of many twists and turns. Compelled to follow this, human beings have to go through much suffering. Only after that are they able to stand before the one standard. That has become the standard all creation has to attain in the corporeal world. We must know this. We are pitiable people who have to go this course.
What does the term "the original hometown" remind you of? My beloved parents are in the original hometown. My beloved village, my beloved house, and my beloved brothers and sisters are there. If we leave our hometown and go to a far-off foreign country and stay there, then the boundary of the original hometown expands. My country itself becomes included in the boundary of the original hometown. What is more, seen from the viewpoint of the universe or the macrocosm, this whole world can become my original hometown. As your bounds grow greater, the boundary of the original hometown also becomes larger in proportion. You may well experience this in your life.
The Original Hometown We Long For
What kind of place is the original hometown we long for? It is not the same place you mean when you speak of your hometown. The original hometown is the original hometown of the mind, that place of shelter for my heart, where my mind can take pleasure, the nest of the world of the heart. You must know that.
We say that God has been unfolding the providence of salvation. If Heaven was to restore me and restore humanity, I would say to God, "Please restore me on the condition of my heart rather than my circumstances." Why is that? Circumstances can change, while shimjung has only one condition. For that reason, I think the man who seeks the true view of faith would ask for this.
Jesus said, "Where is the Kingdom of Heaven? It is in your mind." Where is our true original hometown? It is in the mind. Because the Kingdom of Heaven has a historical connection with the mind, we long for that original hometown in our minds. Because our emotions are unbreakably connected with our minds and are in a tangle, we long for that original hometown. Therefore, we must lead a life worthy of the original hometown, which can be connected with the original mind in the course of life. We must feel the garden of the original hometown.
Who would live in the original hometown? The original hometown is not where we live today. It is a place that can be likened to the garden of true happiness that history longs for, where true peace and true freedom begin. Think about it. Who is going to be there? The lofty, great and dignified God will be there. The Lord whom we have eagerly awaited will be there, too. The Holy Spirit will be there and the numerous meritorious retainers who have come and gone in providential history. Don't you think so? What is more, there will be incomparably loyal subjects; there will be filial sons and daughters and virtuous women without peer. If you cannot feel something of the ideology of that world by expanding the bounds of your mind, you won't be able to connect with it.
That is why numerous sages have taught moral principles to pitiful, fallen human beings: moral principles like the three fundamental principles and the five moral disciplines in human relations. Moses introduced the Ten Commandments. Numerous ascetics toiled to pioneer such a life. Any religion or ethical system or ideology which does not expand the field of man's mind on the path leading to the original hometown will disappear from this universe. Even if they persist, God will brush them aside.
You are on your way to finding that original hometown. You are longing for it. Since we human beings are looking at the original hometown on the distant shore, we must be somewhere along the course. What kind of path leads from hell to the Kingdom of Heaven? It is the path in search of the original hometown. You must know that it is this path. If there are people among you who have reached the age of seventy or eighty, you may feel concerned and anxious about your age, asking, "How far am I from the garden of the original hometown?"
What kind of place is the original hometown? We mean such a place that welcomes a man who comes in search of it with extended hands of bliss. We long for such a place.
On your way to finding the original hometown, you may at times be in a situation where you have been wronged. You may have reason to feel bitter grief in your heart or feel unbearably vexed. However, since you have stepped forward in search of the original hometown, you must realize that such situations are inevitable. You can't turn around from that path. Besides, you won't be able to ignore all the great historical achievements established by your ancestors. You won't be able to ignore the achievements of the founders of religions and ethical systems who made efforts to cultivate this path.
We must go on. We are fated to go on and cultivate the path of life before losing our vigor. Do we have the center of heart and mind with which we can have an unchangeable, dignified mien? This is the question you must ask yourselves today. Jesus referred to this directly when he said, "The Kingdom of Heaven is in your mind."
The Attitude of the Man in Search of the Original Hometown
The parents and brothers and sisters we long for live in the original hometown. There are mountains and streams we are dying for a sight of. The original hometown is such that not all creatures will welcome us in our eagerness to see it. On the way to see that place, you will feel that your life is sorrowful and that the path of your life is miserable. Yet since you are on your way to see the original hometown, even if you feel you have been wronged and feel vexed, even if there is a moment when you have to decide between life and death, you must not forget to think of the original hometown, shedding tears. Thus, you will not fall down. This is the path of our life. We must not forget that.
All sages in the world of mind and ideology wandered the path which leads to the original hometown. To find that world, they forsook all humanistic reasoning and severed all connections, even with the surroundings to which they were emotionally tied. Then they struggled hard. All of them struggled hard to walk this path; not to mention our ancestors, those prophets and sages who walked on behalf of Heaven, and Jesus, who came to resolve this. He set the goal of finding the original hometown after coming to a perfect understanding of it.
Jesus was not forced from the path by opposition. Jesus did not seek the silent mountains and streams to pray because he was afraid of rejection and oppression. Jesus did not fear the Roman tyranny and the path of the cross. On the path of life he had to go at all costs, he was prepared for such situations. He had to endure, and he was ready for every tyranny, every cross, every lonely path and pitiful situation he had to face.
Jesus felt the shimjung of the original hometown. Jesus was the Messiah, who had to assume the position and exercise the rights of the welcomed central figure of that original hometown. Therefore, the more he longed for the original hometown and felt the nearness of that world of the mind, the more miserable a heart he felt.
We must know that if some kind of an enemy exists, Satan, then there will be a fierce battle to the end in the course of going this path.
The democratic camp has arrived at the worldwide level with a new world of ideology which ought to seek the path of the original hometown. Therefore, unwanted spears and swords will block the way. Even if they block the way, the democratic camp must go over them bravely, keeping in step with the direction of the fate of Heaven and earth.
Therefore, the democratic camp must now take a resolute, worldwide step. Individual nations also must take resolute action. The people, all organizations of society, and all individuals will have to make courageous decisions. By doing so, you must be self-confident as you walk the path leading to the original hometown. Heaven will require this kind of man and call for such a family, such a society, such a nation, and such a world.
Let's say that the day of the Second Advent we long for is coming. Let's say that the day of our ideal is coming. What kind of day will it be? Seeing you who have come to restore the heavenly love dragging your wounded legs, tired and shoved about, struggling hard on the path leading to the original hometown, how will Heaven relate to you?
Ladies and gentlemen, have you ever thought about it? I had this kind of a thought: "I wish to see the moment when pitiful God can laugh. I wish to see the Father who knows my heart of adoration and desire for Him and who sheds tears holding onto me." Hearing that, how would God feel in His heart?
Heaven will weep bitterly, clinging to the man who is wounded in a miserable environment, wronged and mortified while going the path of life. If such a man walks forth on the path in search of the original hometown for the sake of the Father rather than for his own good, Heaven will weep bitterly, holding him.
The True Nature of Man Is to Live in Intoxication
We are wandering in search of the original hometown. We are people who lie at anchor on the course of fate we cannot help but go. However much one might boast of himself, there is no one who can proudly say, "All people! The whole of the macrocosm! Act in concert with my words."
Where can we turn our steps which seek the original hometown today? The original hometown is the place where the parents of true love are. It is the affection-filled nest of true love. That is the place where we are to stay and rest. That is the world of peace, overflowing with happiness and hope. It is the garden of freedom. The stronger your admiration for that place, the greater your mind will burn with indignation on the earth. You will resolve that you will live cleanly in relation to the earth. The historical men of the past were the people who lived that way. Even in the world today, there are people who run a thousand miles, not noticing the distance, in search of their lost parents. There are people who go seeking their loved ones, despising a distance of ten thousand miles. If you have less determination than that in going the path which leads to the original hometown, you should have a guilty conscience. For a moment, an hour, a period of your lifetime have you ever wandered in search of the path leading to the original hometown? You should not allow yourselves to be irresponsible. Only when you can leave behind a responsible life can you gain your honor before the heavenly principles that re-created the history of the original hometown and established the will of the providence. Don't you think so? The ancestors who lived such a life became historical figures. The ascetics who lived in such a manner formed religions. Therefore, we today should also long for the parents of the original hometown, the mountains and streams of the original hometown, the family and world of the original hometown. Such a time has come.
Communists today are dreaming of the worldwide original hometown, but centered on a materialist concept of history. It won't work.
Ladies and gentlemen, we should not send away the man we met in the world of the internal shimjung (where external circumstances do not matter). It does not matter if he is black, white or yellow. If we find a man of such a world, if we found a man who belongs to such a place, then we will be able to live intoxicated, aloof to external things like eating and clothing. Any ideal or thought will be evaluated and judged according to such a man. It will be judged according to his standard.
The great point of Christianity is the emotion that can lay the heart bare, and the bitter tears that seep out of you after you start believing in Jesus. This emotion has formed Christianity in the course of history. In order for Christianity to enter into a stage of reform, there has to be a man who can connect to this shimjung. There has to be a man who is unchanging. If a thinking man can control his vivid emotions by the intoxication of an idea, if he can find something that establishes eternity, transcending time, he will be a happy man. He will be the man who stood the test in the historical view of the Heavens and earth. He is the successful candidate who can wield the heavenly principles with the heavenly heart.
In studying the original nature of man, we find that man to be intoxicated. Think of a great, world-famous scholar. A man who says, "Oh! I will study in this manner and become a scholar like so-and-so," cannot become such a scholar. It doesn't work that way. If one continues to study hard, intoxicated with it, without knowing it, he will become a world figure. That is how it should be.
Without intoxication, we cannot discover any rules or formulas greater than those we already have.
The True Leader
Since we call Jesus the Savior, what kind of a central figure was he? He was not intoxicated by human circumstances. He was a man who was intoxicated with God's shimjung of love, with the historical shimjung, the shimjung of the period and the shimjung of the future. He was totally engrossed in it. He was completely taken up with it. Heedless of whether he was chased or cornered or killed, he said, "Father, please do according to Your will." There should be men like this. Yet looked at in the usual way or from a rational point of view, Jesus was a crazy man, a lunatic.
Whom is man seeking, longing for and wishing to meet? It is a leader who introduces to him the world of the heart, the world of happiness, peace and freedom. Such things are necessary. If there is a leader who can show the direction to those of us who are going the path of life with shimjung today, he will be a true leader. The person who goes the path of life with such a shimjung should exist on the earth.
Earth and Heaven, our ideology and reality, are in opposition. The mind and body are always fighting, having become each other's object of struggle. That is because of the Fall. We cannot deny this.
Because of that, if a man has sought the worldwide ideal world, he will not be able to settle down in the world that has been formed on the earth. He cannot experience a comfortable life while coming through the course of history. Look at any of the great names; they all are in the same boat.
Seen in this light, Jesus, who is in spirit world, is also a pitiful man who clings to the earth and prays, "Father, please forgive humankind." Why is Jesus a supplicating figure, not a figure of sheer glory? Because of his untimely death, he could not complete the path of life he had to go through on the earth. Thus, he is destined to come back again. That is why he is in paradise.
Although Jesus was intoxicated with God's will, he could not experience that intoxication with humanity. That is his lamentation.
What is different about the day of his return? The difference lies in the fact that humanity, centered on the will, can be intoxicated in their hearts while relating to Heaven. Jesus is seeking this. This is the situation Jesus is in, and you should know that.
One may praise oneself: "I have studied a lot and I know a lot! This is enough for me to get by anywhere I go. I can be called a teacher and establish the authority of an instructor." But such a one should not brag. By contrast, there may be people among you who concede, "I haven't learned much, and I am ignorant and awful." But all of us are the same in the course of life. There is no such a thing as one being great while the other is foolish.
Why is that? All men are the same in that they move based on shimjung. The mind of a president who loves his or her child is the same as the mind of a mere laborer who loves his or her child. You must know that the more humble a man is, the stronger his loving mind toward his wife and children. He feels strongly in his mind that he himself is insufficient. He feels sorry in his mind for not being able to fulfill the duty of a parent and a husband toward his children and wife. But the man who thinks he is great would say, "I do all I can..."
Which is more lofty in heart? Men on the lower end are more lofty. So don't brag about yourselves.
You should be intoxicated by such connections and by the shimjung of the original nature, saying, "Thank you." Jesus told us to go that way. He also told us to pray ceaselessly. Why did he tell us to pray ceaselessly? He said so in fear of our diverging from the right way. For the one who can go the path of the will with confidence, heedless of day and night, prayer is not necessary.
Why did Jesus go up to the Garden of Gethsemane and pray? Why did he go to the Mount of Olives and appeal to Heaven with his lonely shimjung? If he had been able to share joy with humanity, moving together with them centered on shimjung, would he have had to go to the Garden of Gethsemane and appeal to Heaven? He did so, didn't he?
One Who Is Close to Heaven
Is there any one who has confidence in going the path of life in search of the original hometown? If anyone knows how to go the path of life with confidence, intoxicated in their heart, let's see who you are. This is judgment. If God exists, I believe He will call such people out on the day of judgment.
History will back up the person who went with confidence along the path of life, intoxicated. Jesus confidently went the path, bearing the cross after a life intoxicated by the will of God. On the national level, people who knew the fate and direction of the nation and went over the path of death prepared to sacrifice themselves, intoxicated in their efforts to fulfill their responsibility, were called loyal subjects and patriots. We cannot deny that such people change the course of history. The course of seeking the heavenly love responds in the same way.
Who can stop the mind that longs for the original hometown? Who can stop the yearning shimjung that seeps out of my mind? No matter how dignified one is, no matter how knowledgeable, one cannot reject this mind that pursues something new.
Only when one waits eagerly and sincerely for such a thing and speaks from intoxication with such an emotion can he or she lead a doctrine or thought.
If there is a leader for humanity, what kind of a person will he be? He has to be a man with confidence in the course of life. He will be a man who goes forward intoxicated with God's shimjung, having raised himself with confidence not only before humankind but before God and all of creation as well.
If there is such a man, intoxicated with such a shimjung, everybody will wish to go to him and rest, leaning on him. If there is a man with such content of character, everybody will want to worship him. Why? Because our original nature perceives that it is fated to go such a path. Our original mind realizes that the path is to be taken without fail. Our mind cannot help but always lean toward it. Therefore, please don't get disappointed. Please don't brag of yourselves, either.
Those who know the pitiful and miserable situation people of our kind are in, and who weep bitterly upon seeing them falling down are close to Heaven's side. If there is a man who, seeing his brothers and sisters becoming stragglers in the course of life, frets, "When will you come?" he will be a heartistic leader. Such a leader is in demand among church members today; the sheep are looking for their shepherd.
For that reason, Jesus shed tears for humankind. "Come to me," said he, shedding tears. Sighing for grief over Jerusalem, Jesus spoke out of his sorrowful heart, saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!" (Luke 13:4)
The Successful Man in the Course of Life
Are there young men and women today who are trying to embrace this nation? Is there any man who has the mission to lead the nation, opening up a path for it to go forward? Is there one who feels responsible for that mission? If there is such a man, he should look at the real condition of this struggling nation and know that the tears Jesus shed appealing to Heaven are historically linked to it. He should appeal to Heaven for the sake of this nation, as Jesus appealed for his.
This is the historical trend of thought today. This is the future outlook of the nation. Since we cannot deny that humanity is looking forward to the time when we are united to the heavenly ways, we must realize that we are struggling hard on such a course. Therefore, we must be able to have confidence in the course of life we go. We cannot do without it.
If there is a man who goes running with that confidence, having the shimjung that yearns for the original hometown of hope deep in his mind, he will say, "Mountains! Obstruct my view. Seas! Cross my path. Enemies! Make your appearance. Who is going to block my passage?" Even if the winds of persecution blow, it will last only for a time. Even if the arrows of trial come flying, it will be momentary. Even if the fear of death sweeps over, it will be transient. If there is one who, knowing this, runs to overcome this passing time, forgetting about his own short life in order to seek the time of greater value, he will be a success in the course of life.
Looking at your journey, the Father should be able to weep. The Father turned away His face when Jesus was being crucified. He didn't look away because He was joyous. He turned away His face because at that moment, Heaven's bones were melting. Jesus was thinking of the will of the original hometown even while facing death, and he feared that he might not be able to fulfill his filial duty. He was concerned about the parents of the original hometown. Because Jesus' heart was of such a standard that he could connect to Heaven and earth, he resurrected, advancing through the line of death. The same condition applies to you, too. Without such a heart stirring within you, you cannot surmount the world of death. You cannot sing in triumph. You cannot become princes of victory.
If we think we should attend such a person today, we must strive to do so. Since we ourselves are not connected to and intoxicated by such a shimjung, we must strive to attend one who is. Since numerous ancestors in the course of history struggled hard, and God also has had a tough struggle in directing history, how can we expect to stand still?
To open up such a path Jesus said, "Ask, and it will be given you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you." (Matt. 7:7) If the providence of Heaven were comfortable and easy, why would we need such words?
People walk the weary path of life, believing that the path they take is the right one to their destination. But later on they realize that they have walked in the opposite direction. This is the sorrow of Heaven. While the direction the parents wish their son to take is something like this, the son, having turned profligate, walks in the opposite direction and then loses his rights. We should understand the hearts of the parents who watch this son's miserable situation. Parents watching their son in such a situation would weep bitterly.
God's Toil to Guide Man in the Right Direction
The direction that man is taking and has taken in history is not the direction of Heaven. It is the opposite. For that reason, Heaven more than once blocked the way in order to put humanity to rights. God set up the familial standard by raising up Noah. Even if Heaven had to annihilate the whole of humanity, Heaven blocked everything that was not right and tried to lead Noah's family in the direction of Heaven. However, owing to Ham's mistake, Heaven could not restore Noah's family.
What about Abraham? Heaven had led Noah out to restore the original hometown. Noah was pitiable. Abraham left the mountains and rivers of his homeland, Ur of the Chaldeans, and wandered about to find the blessed land of Canaan. He was pitiable, too, wasn't he? Not only Abraham, but Jacob and Moses were in the same pitiable situation. How would God have felt in His heart after driving Moses out of Egypt into the wasteland of the wilderness in order to restore the people of the original hometown? Nobody knew the heart of God, who was more grieved, more mortified, and more deeply pierced with lamentation than Moses was when He drove the Israelites out from Egypt. Who would have known that such was God's heart? If Moses, who was leading the nation out, had gone forward unchanged, intoxicated in God's heart, the incident of striking the rock twice would never have occurred. We know the lamentable fact that because Moses could not connect with Heaven's heart, at that moment Moses himself blocked the way of the nation.
Heaven drove Noah out to restore the original family. He, too, was pitiable and fell short. So was Abraham, whom Heaven drove out to establish the land of blessing.
What happened to Jacob, who was pining for the land of the original hometown? When death came near in Egypt, his dying wish was that his bones be buried in his hometown. How much pining for his hometown does that show? He did not want even the water trickling down from his decomposed remains to be left in the enemy's land. You must know that Jacob felt such precious pride in being of the chosen people.
Let's look at Moses again. God drove Moses away to restore the original nation. How much do you think God wished to live in that nation? However, Moses could not realize the will.
The people who were raised up to do so could not uphold the will of God and failed. God's intention was to restore the whole of the world by building a people and a nation after restoring the family and mountains and rivers of the original hometown. Yet even with these failures, the will emerges in its own way, outfitting itself conditionally for a bigger scope.
Even if the realization of the will of God was to be delayed, Heaven sent the Messiah to straighten things out and build an original nation. But then what happened to that Messiah?
How ardently do you think Jesus wished to establish the heavenly sovereignty for God on this earth? Yet how did the Israelites treat Jesus? The Israelites were to build a nation of original nature centering around Jesus. They were to become the heavenly soldiers marching toward Satan and his minions and to be the elite soldiers of Heaven. What did they do?
Jesus' death was a forced separation, an unreasonable parting. I think of it that way. Therefore, the fathers of our faith have absolutely nothing to be proud of. The chosen people were not supposed to kill Jesus. Jesus' path was not supposed to be like that, a path of arbitrary separation.
If the Jewish People Had Attained Heartistic Unity with Jesus
The grievous resentment over the unreasonable death of Jesus has remained on this earth. That is why Heaven has dealt with man through a heartistic ideology from Jesus' death until now. The reason that the Jewish people have been able to gain victory in the world is because of the heartistic connection of looking forward to the one future time. If the Jewish people had attained heartistic unity by centering upon the people who were in search of and looking toward the heavenly goal, a doctrine of cosmic significance, which could have had a greater impact on the heart of man, would have emerged. If this had been the case, a unified world would have definitely been accomplished through the Israelites. I believe so.
But where did that kingdom, that nation of the original hometown that was to be built around Jesus, go? Where did it go? Where did the land of Canaan go? Where did that original hometown go? Where did the land and the holy temple where Abraham received blessing and made sacrifices before God go? Where did Adam, over whom God could have a direct dominion, go? Where did Noah, whom God selected with his family inside the ark, disappear to? The world of the original hometown, the heavenly haven, does not exist. That is why it is written in the Bible that we are like orphans and widows.
There is a legend in Korea about a man named Saht-gaht Kim. He wore a conical bamboo rain-hat and wandered about, a lone traveler, throughout the whole extent of Korea. He was considered great. So even if you who are walking this course of life appear miserable, you must become men of character. You must become those who can sing of the cosmos with Heaven, who can be paired with Heaven along with all things in the universe. Your loving shimjung must match the heavenly emotion. If I had met such a man, even if he was reduced to beggary and carrying an empty can, I would have attended him with my utmost devotion.
We human beings have repeated the history of sorrow. We have bound up, beaten and destroyed ourselves many times. The same thing happened at the time of Noah, and also at the times of Abraham, Moses and Jesus. This is the final period of history today, when it is forewarned that human beings must work out their destiny, fulfill their mission, and open up the path of life. Where will God drive humanity to? In the time of Jesus, God drove humanity to restore the kingdom of the original hometown. From now on, God is driving them for the sake of the world of the original hometown He wishes for.
To build and govern the world of the original hometown, it is said the king of kings would come. He is the Lord whom we eagerly await. If a man were to fall down in the course of life yet drag himself on and then die for the sake of restoring the kingdom of the original hometown, he would remain as a loyal subject and meritorious retainer in the kingdom. Heaven will surely raise him up. That was why Saint Paul abandoned all of his social authority and walked the path of miserable death without a single human tie. He could do that because he was confident that such a time would come. Since God is confident that such a time will come, He has come forth unfolding this dispensation. You know that your life is fated to go this kind of path and that you must go this path with confidence. Are you confident? Are you sure?
The Ideal Garden of the Original Nature
The place we must go is the original hometown that Noah and Abraham were looking for. We must find the people of the original hometown that Moses was looking for, and the kingdom of the original hometown that Jesus was looking for. Since God and Jesus have been fighting for the world of the original hometown, are you connected with that world? Do your emotions flow with that world? If not, the day when you receive the seal of a failure in human history will come to you.
We pine for the world of the original hometown. We long also for the ark of Noah. The two great camps of the world today are coming near the moment of striking the reefs and are being confronted with a difficult situation where they have to choose between life and death. We have learned through the Divine Principle that good and evil each had a starting point. Since good and evil were begun with the placement of God, their resolution also should be attained with the placement of God. That is the hard and fast rule. This falls under the same rule that in order to find a thing that was lost, one must go to the original place where it was lost.
The garden of the original nature is the ideal garden. It was a world where people were mutually complementary, a world where brotherly and sisterly feelings could be connected everywhere in the universe. It was not a world where there was nationalistic sentiment. It was a world where people could discuss matters, transcending all such problems as racial discrimination, national sovereignty, etc. It was a world where people could convene without differences in economic situations or cultures. They would convene with heart.
Let's suppose that there is a family with two sons. The elder brother is the president and the younger brother is a laborer. Still, the elder brother cannot demand of his younger brother, "Hey, you rascal! Since you are a laborer, why don't you come to my house and do manual labor?" If he is a true elder brother, he will lament that his younger brother is not on the same level as he and be inclined to hold the younger brother in high esteem. That is the true elder brother's mind. Because God longs for this kind of familial ideology in the home of the original hometown, humankind also longs for such a home in the original hometown.
This is the historical elucidation point, the humanistic elucidation point, and the providential elucidation point of the fate we have to go without fail. What gap is there between that standard and myself? If the gap is wide, we must lament at the top of our voice. We should pray, "God! Please forgive me. I didn't know anything at all. I didn't know the flow of history, the direction and purpose of the providence that history points to. I didn't know that the path of life is tortuous. I didn't know about the mental suffering of the prophets and sages and of my ancestors and their inner hearts. I didn't know the path Jesus went. I didn't know the path God has come either. Please forgive me for the sin of ignorance!" We should pray, "One can be forgiven, even if he was in a position of knowledge. Yet I didn't know. So please forgive me all the more." Men must pray like that, without any condition whatsoever. That is why men are taught in religion that arrogance works against you. Men are told, "Be humble. Keep your place. You are your own enemy." Why is that? Because I am in debt. When we raise our eyes quietly and look at ourselves again with this shimjung, we find our own hearts revolting. As we experience emotion along with Heaven, looking from the historical perspective, we feel our hearts revolt. As we look at that historical sorrow and the curtains of adverse fortune that are blocking the way, we shake in our shoes.
The Father has come forth enduring many such crises. Even while meeting their ends after many such crises, the prophets and sages emerged fighting, longing to restore the freedom, happiness and peace of that kingdom and world. I think that way. I think it is natural that the Unification Church receives opposition today.
Yet we must have a scheme in our minds, saying, "If you want to persecute me, go ahead," with the firm conviction that we have to cultivate this path. Jesus, too, went out with an awe-inspiring attitude. Because of that, when he appeared before Judas Iscariot and the others, they all hung their heads before him. Jesus' aspect said, "If you want to challenge me, go ahead."
In the world of shimjung, there is no place you cannot reach, no matter how far it is. Don't you agree? Suppose that there is a certain hooligan who is trying to stop the love between parents and children. Can he succeed? No, he can't. This is the place where man feels with automatic, natural emotion. Therefore, this place cannot be invaded by Satan, no matter how hard he tries. Satan's interference here would put him in serious trouble. Satan would pay dearly for it. The man who feels such emotion on the path of life will go to the Kingdom of Heaven.
The Words Jesus Could Not Say
We are striving on the course of life in search of the original hometown. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by me." (John 14:6) But I'd like to add one more word to this. That is "I am the love." Jesus left out this word. Thus, if there came a man who can connect to Heaven's heart, who can say with confidence, "God, I am the love, and the truth, and the way, and the life; no one meets with God but by me," no one would be able to put him on the judgment stand. No one would be able to say, "Hey, you rascal! You are betraying Heaven." God is eagerly waiting to see many such sons and daughters emerge on this earth. This why we hold Jesus in such high esteem.
We the Unification Church believers have come here today. We have experienced every inch of the surging waters in the course of life. We have wandered about, searching for Heaven while being pushed here and there. I need a place where I can entrust my body, entrust my mind and entrust my heart. Since the original Adam is the central figure to all things in the Garden of Eden, how would they think of him? All things under the sun are to say to Adam, "Please, quickly become my master."
What kind of a being is God that we human beings call on Him? God is the being who is in the position where everything can say to Him, "Please be my master." That is why we call Him God. Otherwise, how could He govern all of creation?
Humanity today should be able to say, "Since I wish to offer to You everything I have, God, please be my master." We should become the people who have built the history, the providence, and the character to do so. If you meet a man like that on this earth, you must say to him, "Please have dominion over my body, my mind and my shimjung. Please be my master." Only then will you have the mind to attend the master as he has pined to be attended. You should become people like that.
Where We Wish to Be, Where We Wish to Live, Where We Wish to Go
If the body, mind and shimjung of each of you in our Unification Church today change into such a state through the truth, this truth will come to rule over the world in time even in the teeth of opposition.
If there is a place where you wish to be, where you wish to live and where you wish to go, that is the place of the original nature. The members are brothers and sisters to each other. You must have the mind to yearn to see a member if he or she is missing. That mind should seep out of you. You must be able to cry out for a member and take care of their wounds. You have to be like that. You must become people who can cry with a full heart if one of us gets wounded.
What kind of place is our home in the original hometown? It is the place where the Father can cry for me, taking hold of me. It is the place where Jesus, too, can cry. Heaven tries to relate to human beings with every kind of relationship. Heaven relates from the position of a companion, from the position of a friend, from the position of a bridegroom. All this is in the word "Heaven." That word awakens our gratitude and reverence.
Since the Lord and Father is crying for us, seeing how unworthy we are, we feel overwhelmed with awe. Thanks to such a Father, I can more than forget all the wounds I have incurred in the course of my life. The emotion that sings of the unthinkably great love of the Father should take precedence over everything. Only then can people go to the Kingdom of Heaven. Don't you agree?
Members of the congregation! Students who go to a foreign land for the first time will come to miss their hometown by the end of school. If their minds are pure and of the original shimjung, then they may be able to picture the place: the village and mountains and rivers. Hometown is where they can, upon their return, reveal all of their past hardships. They can shed tears, holding the hands of their mothers and brothers and sisters, sitting up all night, unaware of the passage of time.
We have not been able to dissolve the bitter resentment which originates from having to go through the restoration process. Have we ever had a moment when all things in the universe could shout for joy "Hallelujah"? Have we ever had a moment when we could say, "Oh, Lord! Father!" in our course of life? You should have such a moment. You certainly need it. Without it, you must know, Heaven cannot help but be sorrowful and pitiable.
Ladies and gentlemen, happy is a man who has many people who can cry for him, holding him. Why do we say it is good to have children? It is because when the parents are in difficulty, the children shed tears and cry together with them. Isn't that right? Also, they rejoice when the parents rejoice. For that reason, the man who has people around him can share both his sorrows and joys.
Ladies and gentlemen, please don't boast of having friends. It is not easy for them to cry for you when you die and cry together with you when you are sorrowful. The people who can do that are your parents. Heaven is parental.
A leader who is responsible for the ideology of the path of righteousness should know how to cry for the sake of the flock of sheep. He should have a mind that takes pity on them, weeping bitterly. Thus, when the flock of sheep make a full confession to the leader and thus start having opulent feelings of joy, those people are the happy people who have met the true shepherd. That is why we like Heaven. Therefore, we must know that the day will come when all historical sages and wise men and Heaven can receive us in great delight. The day will come when we will appear with victorious contents in our tired bodies. We should be able to usher in such a day, esteeming it a great honor. We have to move forward, feeling grateful for the day, able to forget all of our own faults on that day, wishing to realize completely the hope that we had waited so eagerly for. You must know clearly that the people who will experience that are the people who go the way of righteousness today.
Prayer
Father, we stepped forth on the path You commanded us to go, not expecting it to be difficult. Only afterward did we realize that it is a difficult path. Only after we walked the path for a while, expecting it to be a path of joy, did we realize that it leads to a crest of tears.
Father, we have sorrow, and we wish to grieve holding onto You. We have come to realize that if we grieve holding onto man, we will easily get disappointed. We have also realized that if we march on believing in man we will get hurt.
It is You, Father, who have been immutable. How happy was the moment of weeping, holding onto the Father! Jesus, too, sought the mountain path to cry, taking hold of the Father.
To the Unification members gathered here today, denomination does not matter. Form does not matter. We want to be the people who know how to cry, holding onto the Father. We want to be Your true sons and daughters who know how to cry for You, knowing the heart of the Father who let the Jesus He raised up before humankind cultivate this path because the course of life is sorrowful and desolate.
We have come to realize above all that Heaven is being lashed ruthlessly, is receiving harsh persecution, and is being subjected to all kinds of unfair treatment. How can we make excuses for ourselves? How can we complain of our own sorrow? Since we have realized that there is no reason for us to feel sorrowful centered on ourselves, please feel compassion for Your sons and daughters here today. We have learned that the necessity of going the path in search of the original hometown is pitiable, unfortunate and miserable. Father, we are aware that You cried before we started crying, holding onto us, and that You were struck before we started getting struck. We are also aware that You suffered before we started to suffer; You felt pain before we started feeling pain. You fell down before we started falling down.
How badly has Heaven longed for the sons and daughters who know this and know they are lacking even after walking on and on toward Heaven in silence? How badly has Heaven longed for those who can call Him Father with their heads bowed down before Heaven? Through this word today, please allow such feelings to be stirred up in our shimjung. Allow such feelings to be stirred up when we relate to this nation, this world and Heaven. We know that only when such feelings are stirred within us can we say that we have total faith from the level of the individual to the level of the realm of the whole worldwide ideology. We will be in the position of Heaven, having the very best shimjung for the sake of setting up our own ideology. I ardently beseech that You will let our minds be stirred so that we can proceed, cultivating the path of the environment like this.
I ardently solicit and wish that You will allow us to be the children who criticize ourselves, thanks to this word today. Let us feel sorry in the course of life we must go. Let us live intoxicated with happiness. Let us uphold the Father's glory with bowed heads, placing high value on connecting our individual bodies with Heaven.
Since this gathering leaves You in full charge of us, I ardently desire and wish that You will have dominion over our lives and our whole way of living, including any ideology we possess. That way, we will not run counter to the Father's shimjung. I pray all these words in the name of the Lord. Amen.
