New York, New York
Master Speaks
Translated by Mrs. Won Pok Choi
It may be the first time for you to be gathered in such a large place. I think there are many such churches in New York City.
When you think of God's will in connection with the churches, many things come to mind. As we know, the providence of God is going to be finalized in our group. In the time of Jesus there was a Jewish tradition laid by other people, but around the man of Jesus there was a different group being bred, and the Jewish religion became different and separated from Jesus. And the social system around the Jewish religion and that around Jesus became different from each other. By the same token, there has come to be a vast difference between the existing churches and our group, and our group must be able to make a new system and new environment different from that of the others. We must see the difference between the tradition and historical background of other churches, the established churches, and what is going to be created by us.
We can well see in the course of history that if a group is moving with the tide of time and in conformity with the existing system, there's no such thing as contradiction or persecution coming from others. But when a group appears to create a new system and new role, pave a new path, there are always difficulties. In that light I'm going to talk about that role, the path that we must tread.
First of all, we must know that the road we are going to tread is different from other ways. It is because we are going to create a new road that it is different from others, naturally. But we are sure that the road we are going to pave is under God's will and in the mainstream of God's will. We know too well that God Himself is leading us on a different way from others. We know that in the established churches people are stalemated, at a dead end. So we see that people are on the verge of life or death in the life of faith; they must determine themselves whether they are going up or declining. There is no person in the world who wants to decline. God has been leading the people in faith, and in that sense we know that God has not been aiming at people's decline. It is true that God wants His people to ascend on the road, to come to Him. But why are people doomed to decline? When we go on the ascending road there must be God's will and people's efforts combined. If what people are doing goes in conformity with God's will everything will be okay, but when people are going the opposite way to God's will there are apt to be two roads, differing from each other.
In the Christian world as it nears the latter days there must come a transitional period. Though Christianity started on a straight path in its earlier days, as it went along somehow the roads became crooked and different from the origin. So the place we are going to be settled in the latter days must be different from that of those who started in the origin. In the early days of the Christian movement it started from Jesus, but in the latter days people have established their own systems. When true religion appears, its road must be different from the established ones, we can imagine.
But in what way must they be different from each other? We see many religious groups around us but in their origin they have different aims in mind. At the best, in Christianity people believe in their own salvation and work for their own salvation. Even in the time of Jesus Christ people around him thought that Jesus was their teacher and Jesus was for them alone. People of those days did not think of Jesus in terms of the teacher of the world, but they claimed him, only thinking of their own salvation from or through him. The Jewish people thought that Jesus Christ was coming for the salvation of their own people, the chosen nation of the Israelites. They did not think, or hated to think, that Jesus came for the world -- not for them alone, not for the chosen people alone, but the whole population of the world was going to be saved through the chosen nation as the instrument. So people's thought was fixed on their own salvation, but Jesus was thinking of something else, broader than that. Something different and something more vast was going to happen through the person of Jesus Christ, and that's what God was planning for him and around him.
Of course Jesus was going to work out his providence -- which was God's, of course -- around the chosen nation of the Israelites, but the people of Israel and Judaism were fixing their thoughts and concentrating on their own salvation. That created the difference between the two.
Then what would have happened if and when the Israelites came into conformity with God's will around Jesus Christ and headed for the things of higher and broader dimension? Then there has to come into existence a new tradition aiming at the salvation of the whole world. Then by people's adopting the new system, Christian thought of higher dimension could have been created. Then something entirely different from the tradition of Christianity -- not Christianity but Judaism -- could have been produced at that time. Just as in the time of Jesus Christ, now we, being again in the latter days, must create a new road to tread. We must not be settled down where we are or become stalemated here, but make a new opening to go through to involved the whole world.
We can well imagine that when the Lord of the Second Advent comes, things of a new dimension will be opened. up before us; so the people of the latter days must be prepared for this, to receive the things of higher dimension so they can go in conformity with God's will in the last days.
But if and when in the Christian world people cling to the old tradition, can they go with the Lord of the Second Advent to the world of new dimension? Up to the present moment people have been safe in believing in Christ -- just in belief, they are settled in belief. But when Jesus Christ appears again they must not only believe in him but follow him. If you receive
Jesus Christ, would he want you just to accept him as the Christ and believe in him, or know him, understand him and follow him? He would want us to know him and understand him, his heart. And he would even want you to act in place of him, doing what he would have you do.
When you receive the Lord of the Second Advent do you have to go through the gate of the cross? Then we must think that the cross must be removed from our minds. Up to the present moment we have been believing in the cross, but from the moment that we meet Jesus of the Second Advent -- Lord of the Second Advent -- we must erase the thought of the cross.
Up to now, people thought of Christianity in terms of their own group, their own nation, but from now on our scope must become larger than that, encompassing the whole world. The scope of our thought around the man of Jesus, Lord of Second Advent, must be broadened so as to get the whole world involved. In the Christian churches we must deal with problems of the world transcending national boundaries in order to receive things of new dimension. We must even create a new dimension of cultural things, and then we must have the people follow that. The Lord of the Second Advent must come for the whole world, for the salvation of the whole world. Then those who follow him must receive his idea and think of things in terms of the world, not of the individual. If Jesus were here, when he saw that a vast number of denominations had been created,. would he be glad of the fact? Christianity started from his teaching, which was one, not many. Then when he finds many Christian denominations in disharmony among themselves, God will not be happy over that and Jesus Christ is not happy over that. God did not send Jesus Christ to create so many denominations. Then when Jesus sees that there are so many denominations created after him, he must feel responsibility for that fact.
And if there appears a group of people who will think of the salvation of the whole world and work for that goal, Jesus will be happy about that fact and will come to aid them and God will also come to aid that group. People may not know the particulars and details of the group, but since there is God's will working in it, both God and the Lord of the Second Advent will work through the group, in the group.
In the group there is no doubt that the world of unification would come first, because there have been so many denominations. And by unifying the people in the group and in the established churches and in the secular world the Lord of the Second Advent will unite the whole world. In the light of that concept, we are confident that the name of the Unification Church is welcomed by both God and Jesus Christ.
We are here not to follow the tradition laid by the Christians of the world at the present moment, but we are going to pave the road of higher dimension, and we believe that that is the desire of both God and Christ.
Our group is of higher dimension than the established churches and naturally there must come vast difference between what we are and what the Christian people are. From the very beginning we must be different from others. While people of the established churches think of their own salvation, we are thinking of the salvation of the whole world at the sacrifice of ourselves. At the sacrifice of individuals we want to have the salvation of the families worked out, and at the sacrifice of families we must establish the salvation of the nation, and at the sacrifice of the nation we must work out the salvation of the whole world. And between those two ways of thought there's a vast difference. Which group would God take delight in?
In the days of Jesus Christ, he wanted to save mankind at the sacrifice of himself, and even on the cross he blessed the sinners. And compared to that, the Christians after him would think of their own salvation on the individual level, never thinking of the salvation of the whole world. There are not many people who are thinking of the salvation of the whole world, and it saddens the heart of Jesus Christ. That we know too well. Even at the moment of death Jesus blessed the sinners and he blessed his enemies who pierced him and despised him. And compared to that, people in the Christian world think of their own salvation. Not many of them are thinking of the salvation of the world. And that is not God's will, we know.
There were many enemies around Jesus but he would not reject them or deny them. He would be anxious to include all of those and would want to move their hearts and unify them.
We have something to be analyzed. When we think of the opposing power coming from certain other sources, are the people more horrible, or Satan, who is working behind people or in the people? Satan is the thing to be hated, but not the people in whom Satan is working. So Jesus did not hate the people. He would feel compassion for the people and would want to drive Satan from the people. But there are not so many people in the present world who resemble Jesus, working the same way.
Then in what point would our group be different from other groups, other churches? As in the example of Jesus Christ, we must not hate our enemies, hate the power coming from the opposition group, but we must hate the Satan working in the group and we must be compassionate toward the people and try to get them involved in our project, and by moving their hearts have them become our members. That's our goal. For instance, the established church members would protest against us and even persecute us, but we must not try to repel their power or deny them but be compassionate to them and try to win their hearts, and finally unify them into our group to reach out to the end of the world. That's what we should be doing, and when we are the other way around we will be hated by people, and that's not God's will. So we must strive on to go ahead, drawing the people into our group with compassionate hearts and love.
The Christianity which God has been fostering for 6,000 years is doomed. Up to the present God has been with Christianity. But in Christianity things are stalemated. People don't know where to go, or they are satisfied with their old things. Then what would God have people do? He would want a new group to appear and work transcending the denominational boundaries and national boundaries, working for the salvation of the whole world. Without this group God's tollgate cannot be opened towards the world.
Even in that point our Unification Church must be different from the established churches. The points of difference are complete, not just vague. First of all, we have different goals. The view of our purpose is different. On the road what we are doing is different. In Christianity and other ideologies or "isms" or philosophies, their views of life, views of the salvation of the world or betterment of the world are different and vague. We can express it in one word, at least, that they think of the thing in terms of their own benefits. Everything comes in terms of themselves, those individuals, and even after salvation they think of the salvation of themselves. But what do we have different from this? We believe in God for the salvation of the whole world. And we work for that goal.
In order for us to inherit what our predecessors have so far accomplished, to go to the final goal, we must inherit stage by stage from what they have done and have it developed to larger or higher dimension, so that we can attain the goal. In Jesus' day the scope of concepts which the Jewish people entertained was vastly different from what Jesus was going to do, so we must in opening the things of new dimension be reminded of the fact.
Then we must go through all the levels of things. We must start working from the things of individual level, and then through the things of family level, national level, reaching to the things of worldwide level. Whatever difficulties there may come, we must welcome them and digest them. For instance, we must receive and digest persecution coming to us when we work for the providence on the individual level, and at the sacrifice of ourselves we must save our family, and at the sacrifice of the family we must be able to save our clan and nation, and at the sacrifice of the nation we must be able to save the whole world.
And when we have that attitude of welcoming whatever persecution comes to us and by getting over the difficulties, we can proceed to the next stage and still the next.
God and Christ of course will love the person if he or she is going to sacrifice himself or herself for the sake of his family or hers, but there must come the broader concept of things next, always broadening the scope of salvation. That's the way God would have us work. The broader our scope, the more help is coming from above, from God. So in that case we are sure that God is working with us and through us, and our project will be realized for sure.
Have you ever stopped to ask when there is going to be Sabbath for Father? Can God be relaxed and enjoy His Sabbath seeing only the individual salvation? If the vast population of the world are left unsaved, His heart will not be eased. We can arrive at a safe conclusion, that God can rest only after the salvation of the whole world. Then when God cannot enjoy Sabbath, can Jesus Christ enjoy a rest? Can the Holy Ghost enjoy a relaxed atmosphere?
This is the great sacred formula, and we must repeatedly emphasize our having to sacrifice ourselves on the individual level to save our family, and we must readily sacrifice our family for the salvation of our clan and nation, and we must readily sacrifice our nation for the salvation of the whole world. And then alone we can have God enjoy Sabbath, and Jesus Christ also.
It is going to be a grand human march. You, as individuals, when you are ready to sacrifice yourselves for the salvation of your family, then your families will be ready to sacrifice themselves for the salvation of broader things, tribal salvation and clan, and those will be sacrificed for the salvation of the nation, and the nations will be sacrificed for the salvation of the whole world. And that grand march will be in accordance with God's cry on the battlefield.
We have a new view of life here in our group. In the Christian world when they are blessed in marriage, they think of their own salvation or own happiness, and struggle hard to win everything for their happiness. But here in our group when we are blessed in holy marriage we are ready to sacrifice ourselves or our family for the salvation of broader things, and that's why God will work with us.
Seemingly, in appearance, we are miserable people, sacrificing all that we have. But in God's sight and in the view of Jesus Christ and the passed away saints and sages, we are the only group with whom God will work, and for whose aid God will mobilize the whole world.
In the secular world people would do just anything, and they would try to sacrifice anything for their own good and own benefits, but on the contrary, in our group we are ready to sacrifice ourselves and sacrifice anything we have for the sake of the whole world and all mankind.
In your families you are dearly in love with each other, but you must let your husband or wife go for the salvation of the whole world, and if necessary, you are separated and work in different comers of the earth, never, never wanting your partner back at the time of trial and difficulty.
There are many tragic things occurring in our family lives in the worldly sense, and when you go out witnessing in the front line your children may cling to you and want you to stay at home. But you must kick them away and with determined and almost cruel mind go out to the battlefield.
In the early days of our movement back in Korea the history was woven with many such things. When you wanted to go out to the frontline to do witnessing your children would cling to you, never wanting to let you go. And then the parents would entice the children and take them to a place where there was an orphanage though they were not fatherless or motherless, and the parent would just leave them in the orphanage and go to the front line to fight. You must not forget that parental love is the thing most resembling God's love, and you know how it would be for parents to leave their children in orphanages. But when there are two things ahead of you, and when you know that the one thing is more important than the other and that that thing is more for the eternal dimension, then you will leave your children and work for that goal. I know too well what it is to be persecuted by the people because I myself have gone through all those things. God will remember you and knows that you are now going through difficulties and persecution, but the thing you are going to enjoy will be greater than the difficulties you are going through. And God is in that case cruel to you and Just turns His face away and sounds the battle cry to drive you out on the rough road.
Our Master experienced many bitter experiences. His members would love him, would want to cling to him and would want to hear him teach them, but he would just drive them out. He would tell them, "Instead of loving me, you must love the people of the world. Instead of doing things for me, you must do things for other, miserable people. " And he would be harsh on them and without mercy drive them on the rough road of life, and then he had to weep in his mind and pray for them. And at that moment he would
think, "If I am not doing this for the sake of the will of God I'm the greatest of all sinners. " That has always been his feeling. He is doing this with regret and sorrow in his heart, and he remembers the difficulties still in the faces of his early members. And now he's here assembling the members from many nations and he's going to drive you on the difficult road, and his heart just aches and breaks.
With the whole salvation of mankind in my mind, when I assemble you from many nationalities it means by having you work for all mankind we can reach out to every comer of the earth and cover the earth with salvation under the will of God. And by my doing this alone, we can reach out to the people. I have long waited for this day to come, and I have spent my whole life in persecution to meet you people and work with you. And when we realize that God is working behind the scenes and what we are doing is connected with God's will, we must know that God has been waiting for the day to come in which He will assemble people from all over the world -- especially the young people -- and have them work for His will.
Just imagine: God has been working the difficult history of 6,000 years concentrating on His people, and in driving them out onto the field of sacrifice to save the world, He has been feeling an aching heart and a broken heart, but His task is not yet finished. In worldwide terms He is working for the salvation of the whole world at the cost of those assembled here from so many nationalities. And while His sorrow continues, we must work on; until we will have established His kingdom He will not take Sabbath.
Then when I know and understand and feel God's heart, what would I do? I love you, of course, but would I just embrace you and rejoice with you in praise of God here, or would I have to drive you out on the harsh road of salvation of the world'? I have to drive you on the harsh road because there are things to be accomplished, still left unaccomplished. So until the day comes I cannot have you rest. You must understand my heart. In that point we are entirely different from the people in the Christian world today.
In the worldwide Unification Church, people are sacrificing themselves for the established churches and for the people of the democratic world, including all the population of the world. What we are doing now is not for the benefit of the Unification Church. We are working for the benefit and salvation of the United States and the world. You have discarded everything. You have left your homes and left everything you used to think was a blessing for you, and you are working for the sake of all mankind. You have left your beloved ones, your family, your friends, your nation, and you are here assembled before me and you are waiting for instructions coming from me. I know there are resentments in your families, among your friends, and they would at best be anxious about you and sometimes persecute you, even curse you, and you are here bravely as a warrior for the will of God.
But I am so happy that God has chosen the best members of the families existing in the world. You are more on God's side than the families and friends you left, and it is natural for Satan to attack you and attack you through those who have once been beloved by you.
In Joining this Family, what you found here was greater than what you left or lost. But as soon as you gain something here, you will be ready to sacrifice it and then you will win more things, more things of higher value, and you then will be ready to sacrifice those towards things of higher value and higher dimension.
I know that your families, your friends whom you have left, will entertain the bitter feeling of having been left out, but let them wait, and the day will come that they will share the joy of what you will have gained for them. You must not curse those who persecute you. Even Christians would hate you. And your society, your nation and the whole world will hate you. But never mind, let them wait and they will know what it is that we are doing here, and we will bring them back at last. We must be sympathetic with them because they are ignorant of what we are doing. Those who have knowledge are more responsible for God's will than other people.
You are persecuted on the individual level even by your loved ones, and it is because they are ignorant of what we are doing. And when you think of that you must be sympathetic with them and get over the difficulties. And then when our scope is broadened to the level of the family and nation, the persecution coming will be more severe. You must expect that. But by that time you are more immunized and you are going to be more courageous to get over those difficulties. Then if you are successful in realizing the will of God, what are we going to do? What are you going to do? When we say we reach out to the end of the world, what do we mean? Whom are we going to meet there?
After winning the goal by leaping over the obstacles, you must come back in for the salvation of our own family, which you lost, and your own nation and your own society and nation. That's something like Jesus coming again. And you must come again to save your family and friends whom you had lost. And that's something like paving the road again. At first we dash on the bumpy road, but when the time is ripe we must come back and pave the way, level it out. Then at that time you will be welcomed by your friends, by your family, your clan, tribe and the nation, and in paving the road you will win back cooperation from all the people around you. In that case you are paving the road for the later generations, individuals, families and nations of the future.
Then what is our purpose of being assembled here? In a word, we are going to establish something good, something new in connection with God's will. That is how we are different from the established churches, from what they have in the established churches. And what we win, step by step, will be connected with the salvation of the whole world. God has been expecting the Christian world to do that and the democratic world to do that, but since they are failing, we are going to inherit from them what they have already accomplished, and from here on, we are going to work out God's providence.
As you well know, without Christian ideology in the United States the people from so many nations could not have been living in such harmony. In the old world of Europe your forefathers were persecuted in their religion, in their belief. That's why they came over to this continent to establish a new nation.
In your political system, it's something like two nations were combined: the federal government and the state governments. At first the thirteen colonies came to exist, and then it developed into fifty states under the federal government. The law they observed in the colonial days was adopted when the new system came. Without Christian ideology disharmony was apt to be there and conflict could have come.
Then what will naturally happen is that if the Christian ideology is corrupted, conflict will come about in the political system, too. Since your homes are established under the Christian ideology and every social system is established under the Christian ideology, if the Christian ideology declines there will come about disunity and disharmony in your families, in any group or organization.
Then there's a great danger coming in America. You are more or less mixed, of course, but if in later days people of German origin and people of British descent -- if all those people become disharmonized, they will even fight against each other on the political base, and great conflict will come about and this nation will be shattered into pieces.
What is more threatening is the fact that there is Communist power undermining behind the scenes. Suppose one whole state is predominantly under the control of the Communist power, and then the whole state will come against the federal government and deny the federal government, and will not observe the law. Then great trouble will be created.
Not only the Communistic power but, as I said before, a group of a certain origin -- German origin or British origin, for instance -- would work that way. Then what would happen?
We are now at the point of life or death, in the Christian world, of course, and unless new ideology comes into being and seizes the leadership, then the decline in Christian ideology and the decline in the political system will come. We see now that Christian churches are almost empty. There is disharmony coming about in families. Among the young people there are many, many drug addicts. These are three of the gravest problems occurring in this nation, and who can stop them from developing further? Who can annihilate them? Can your government do it? Can the established churches do it? Can the educational system do it? We arrive at the conclusion that they can never do it.
Then that will have us draw another conclusion, that the United States is doomed; there's no way to survive. There will only remain the carcass of individualism. In people's eyes there will be no Godism, no concept of society, nation and the world. Then they are compelled to die away.
God blessed this nation not for the nation to be destroyed like this. Your forefathers made the ideology of the country a Christian ideology, a God-loving ideology. God's purpose of having blessed this nation was to have this nation work for the salvation of the whole world.
Then why is the Christianity in this nation declining like this? It is because the Christian people have not been able to accomplish their mission. If God is going to punish people at all, those who do not carry out their mission while assigned to that mission are the ones to be punished first.
There are many God-loving people in the democratic world, and Christianity is more responsible for that, but in less than twenty years' time Christianity is faced with decline. If there are deep thinkers, they will know that this nation -- this great nation is on the verge of life or death, and they would at least wish a group to come out to save this nation. And God would wish the same thing. But is there any such group in the Christian world now which can eliminate the defects in Christianity and set up a new tradition to save the world? No other group but our group, the Unification Church, can do the job, I strongly believe.
First of all, we must revolutionize and change the individualism deeply rooted in the people of the United States. Can we do the job? (Yes!) Secondly, we must be able to revolutionize our family life, and we must be able to change the families into the concept of new dimension. Is it possible? (Yes!) Can you save the drug addicts, and shift them into new personality and motivate them to work with us and save the world? Can we do that? (Yes!) Can we study, criticize, analyze and make an alternate plan for the political system and for the system working in every level of group and make the world out of the old? Yes, we can. But this cannot be done while we are willing to tread an easy way, but if we are ready to sacrifice ourselves and deny ourselves for the sake of God's will, we are able to do this.
However great atomic power may be and however great atomic power a nation may have, with that they cannot revolutionize the age. However strong a political system you may have, with that alone you cannot save the world. However strong economic power you have in this nation, with that alone this nation cannot save the world. You have the great power of sending rockets to reach the moon, but with that alone America cannot save the world.
We have the great enemy Satan, and with only these qualities you must come to your knees before Satan. We know too well that Satan is encroaching upon, almost seizing, hegemony over this nation. The dark flood of decadence and ruin is coming, and with what can we block the way, stop it from coming? Our project of Madison Square Garden is for that, to stop that from coming to occupy this nation. We must show the people of the United States and show the satanic power of Communism that we are here for the sake of God's will, and we will never be defeated by their power. We must let the people know that we are different individuals, our group is different from other churches, and transcending national boundaries we are here and we represent the whole world.
When we say we are different, we mean that we are 180 degrees different from the others, not only 90 percent or 90 degrees different from them, but we must be the whole 180 degrees different.
What makes us different 180 degrees from them? Before joining the Unification Church you had been individualistic, I know. Isn't that true? (Yes!) But how do you find yourselves now? You are living with the concept of the salvation of all mankind. There's a vast difference from what you used to be. What about those who have been drug addicts, or at least hippie people? I can well name that kind of life to be the graveyard of living people. Everyone who has once at least used drugs, put up your hands. On the occasion when I asked American members alone, the majority of them had been drug users. When I assembled the 600 people who fasted and had prayer vigil in front of the Capitol here, if they had been asked if they had used drugs, almost all of them would have raised their hands. They are coming from disharmonious families. None of them were from other than Christian backgrounds. Almost all of them were from Christian backgrounds. But they entirely forgot about God and they didn't know the existence of God.
Here in the Unification Church we not only know the existence of God, but we understand His heart, God's heart. We are talking about God's heart. Can you see your heart? But you feel the heartbeat. You know the existence of your heart or mind. Well, by the same token you can feel and know the existence of God.
The heart is the life source of your whole body, so since we know the heart of God, we have the great power of changing the world, revolutionizing and making the world into a perfect one, the original intention of God. We are warriors in the battlefield fighting for the cause of God, and you must be awakened to the fact. So we are a different brood of people.
It is natural for us to work not for ourselves but for the people of the world. But is the environment prepared for us? In a sense, yes, because there is corruption coming about in every society, in every group or community, and it is sort of a prepared way for us to tread. Unlike the old days, at the worst we are being persecuted, but we don't have to be martyred in this world. Then we must be thankful for that. People will stare at you, but your whole body will repulse that. And you feel that God is helping you, and in that moment you will feel that you are already a victor. If you are soldiers on the battlefield and know the clear picture of your future success and victory, would you as the soldiers prefer to retreat? (No.) Then what would you do? Dash ahead and if you once there begin to push something you must push until it moves.
Compared to the vast project we are going to deal with, the island of Manhattan is small. The United States can be likened to the Roman Empire in Jesus' days. The city of New York is the city of Rome. But while in those days people, especially the Christian people, were martyred for the will of God, we don't have to be martyred. We must be grateful for that.
If you are awakened to that great mission and if you know the possibility of your being victorious, you must dash ahead on the road.
In the providence of God, what period will be the period in which God can concentrate on helping? Up to the present moment God's people have been in defensive positions, not offensive. History has never seen such a group as ours, and we are ready to dash onto the battlefield in the offensive position. We are greater than our predecessors, even greater than Jesus. We are going to do greater things than Jesus did, in his age. We are going to be mobilized in an all-out effort to win the goal at all costs, and we will bring about the last day when we enjoy the victory for God.
If in the Madison Square Garden campaign, we are able to bring more people than the capacity, then our victory will be great. Madison Square Garden will be the first step to the worldwide goal, and if we can make it a success, then the next step -- which will be the growth stage after the formation stage -- in the third and final stage, if we are successful, then the worldwide level of things will be started. If the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden is 20,000 people, would God have you serve the whole with even one person less than the capacity or even one person more than the capacity? (More!) That one person, that single person will either determine your failure or your success. Then every moment you meet one person, you must think that this person can make our project either a success or a failure. If you feel that urgency when you meet a single person, thinking that you can determine whether or not our project will be successful, then you are sure to win the heart of that man and bring him into the hall. So every single person is that important.
Of course God will have you win even a single person more than the capacity, but God is greedy enough to have you not win just one more but a much greater number of people than the capacity.
When you have seen other groups assemble so many people, a vast audience, we must surpass them, bringing a greater number of people than those groups. If God is on our side, wouldn't God be cheering us on to meet that goal? Win one more man is our first target. Again, you must feel the urgency of bringing one more person, every time. Would you want to have Madison Square Garden just full of people and have a good atmosphere for Father to speak
before them, or would you rather have the people overflowing -- that there are so many people who have to go home or linger around the place? The people will be such anxiety to come into the hall that the walls would be torn down and people's glasses would be broken. Would you want to have that happen? (Yes!)
What if that crowd of people just would fight to come into the hall and some hundred people were killed in that accident, trampled and killed -- then would the media be against us and defame us? (No!) Then would God punish me, saying, "You killed 100 people in Madison Square Garden and I must punish you for that"? Would God say that? (No!) Well, if those two things are the alternative choice for you, would you rather have so many people killed and in that way grant that success be yours, or just have fewer people in a calmer atmosphere? Which is your choice? (More!) Then would that mean you would like to have people killed? (Yes! No!) Then you are not good people.
In our concept, the definition of good and evil is different from ordinary ones.
Well, some of you may think I'm greater than Napoleon, who conquered the nations on the external base. On the spiritual level, what I have done has been to gain over satanic power for the victory. In the fight casualties are naturally coming, and God will praise me, as a victor not scold me or punish me for that. God would not have me rest a single moment. Then would you like to have me wanting you to rest, or just drive you hard on the road? (Hard!) The harder you work, the shorter the period will be and the greater the crops will be. If three times as many people as the capacity of Madison Square Garden would come this time, we would immediately plan on the next step of assembling in Yankee Stadium. That is going to be our second step on the worldwide base. And the third step is five times 20,000 people. You know, God is having the people repair the Yankee Stadium; now it is in the process of being repaired. That is being done for ourselves, for us. Our third step will be half a million audience somewhere. Billy Graham went to Korea, assembling half a million people, so we must do more than that. You must be resolved. He did that in Korea, and I am going to do this in the United States.
When you clap your hands, do you do this? Or this? And in clapping, you must clap the hands clasped like this, tight. Either horizontally or vertically, when you work side by side with the other members, when you work with Father like this, your fist must be made so strong as to be able, you know, to tear down the Empire State Building, the Pan American Building and all the skyscrapers. If all of you are united into one fist like this, I will be the one who will use the fist. I will either throw the fist or kick it out at the target. Then whatever thing the fist meets will be broken down. This is not a joke. I am really serious. And if only you are united, I have the means to do it. Would you prefer to do that? Or just sit still with folded hands enjoying what you have so far gained? Of course I know you want to be united and be a strong and do the job in the shortest possible time. In that case, whom do you resemble? You resemble God. Next you resemble me, maybe, and then you will have invincible power with untold energy. Then the United States will see she is being changed by our power, in the future.
You are already seeing the difference in our campaign, the difference between last year's campaign and this year's. And I stopped by the office in Manhattan yesterday and found that statistics show that a vast number of people everyday asking for more tickets, more tickets, by tens and hundreds.
The mode or fashion of the United States is prevailing -- spreading out to the whole country from New York in the whole world. And in that New York City the Unification Church has become a household word. If not yet, we are going to make it possible. What is taking place in New York City is known in every corner of the world, and if New York City knows our movement and what we are doing is conspicuous in that scene here we will be known to all corners of the world.
Sometimes you may say, "Well, God's will is important, but if we do this, it will be too much and maybe it will arouse some negative controversy rather than good. " But don't be afraid of it. If our project in Madison Square Garden is successful, even at the cost of the lives of the people, then the whole city of New York cannot deny our existence, and the whole country of the United States cannot but recognize our movement.
We have worked barely less than three years in New York. But has there ever been such a person who has become so well known in less than three years' time, having spoken first in Lincoln Center, then Carnegie Hall, and then all of a sudden in Madison Square Garden? Is there anyone like that? Then from now on people will associate the name of the Unification Church with Madison Square Garden. Then in the future when I send out more missionaries to more nations, when you arrive in those nations you will find people always knowing you when you say you are from the Unification Church. They will say," Oh, your Master had the speech in Madison Square Garden with great success." They will know, and it will make your work easier in that country.
We have established the highest record of having pasted 720 posters at one place. Even that will give people the impression of our Unification Church and they will remember the Unification Church, "Ah, that church whose people pasted 720 posters in one place." Then everything will be known through the media, and then you will have a whole scrapbook of what you have done, to go to other lands as missionaries. And through your embassy in that country you can work out the channel to reach the policymakers of the nation including the presidents of the nations. Then you can tell them that before long a troop of international mobile teams consisting of 1,000 young men will come that nation, and they will be delighted and will be ready to receive them. In that case, you are working as the secret ambassador of the heavenly will. And we are now paving the way here.
In name and reality, we are going to advance forward on the road of our third seven-year course, which is going to be worldwide level. When missionaries step into new lands, people will be skeptical about them, and if you show them your scrapbook of our activities, they will immediately recognize our movement. Can you buy that kind of thing with money? (No.) Only our effort can do it, and at all costs we must make our Madison Square Garden campaign a success and it will pave the way in many ways.
Each one of you must think that you are the person without whom the Madison Square Garden project cannot be a success. And I want you to write down in your diary what you have done in detail. In later days your descendants will read the diary and will be anxious to visit New York. They would visit every area in the street and in the back roads as described in your diary in order to tread the road you have gone. Suppose the diary says that in Times Square, you were rejected by so many people that in front of a certain building you embraced a certain electric pole and wept, sobbed, cried for help from God. And what would happen when your descendants read the diary? Then your descendants would come to that very place and pray before that electric pole.
It doesn't have to take a great, famous person to do the job. Suppose a small girl from Holland did that great thing, an unknown person from England or Italy or elsewhere, did the Job? It will become more sensational. And the more difficulties you go through, the more enthusiastic people will be who read about the stories.
So you must be ready to fight a fierce battle, and the fiercer the battle is, the better. If you are going out on the battlefield at all, would you start your day frowning and in reluctance, or would you dash out
with a smiling face? Your battle must be fierce one. Would you rather fight eating one meal or three meals? (One.) Would you rather fight sleeping many hours or less? (Less.) Would you fight running on the road, or just walking on the road? (Running.)
What I'm telling you to do is what all the American young people hate to do. Are you ready to like what all other people dislike doing? (Yes!) Then the problem is great. Then a great revolution will come and a great way is going to opened. The new way in the providence of God will be paved, by you, at this very moment. Then are you serious or not? (Yes!) You must run instead of walking, and you must visit every comer of the city. Those who think you can do it, hold up your hands. I want you to raise your hands at once, not doing this and that, this way. Hold up your hands if you are ready to do that.
The time we are in corresponds to Jesus' day, and but for our help and our doing this, nobody else can do that. So I want you to be serious and work hard for the campaign this time. By us and through us it will be possible to liberate the nation of the United States, liberate the democratic world, and liberate even God. We must mobilize our whole effort for this project and dash on for the goal.
Shall we pray?
