Manhattan Center
Translator -- Bo Hi Pak
Today is Christmas, 1976, and people around the world are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. In the history of the Unification Church the year of 1976 was a most critical and extraordinary year and today we have ample reason to be grateful, especially as we gather together for the first service in this holy place, our Manhattan Center.
We are not an ordinary group. There are many Christians in the world but the Unification Church and this particular gathering have a special meaning and purpose in God's dispensation. It is most important in celebrating this day of Christmas to know the purpose of the coming of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago. Without knowing that purpose clearly this celebration is meaningless, so this morning I would like to deliver a message on the topic, "God's Will and Christmas."
When we ask if God's original intention for this world has been completely fulfilled, the obvious answer is no. The will of God was thwarted because of the fall of man. Through history fallen mankind has been searching for the ultimate fulfillment of the will of God and the purpose of creation. As this providence has been advancing on many different levels of the individual, family, society, nation and world, God's original will or blueprint has never| changed. All the while that unchanging goal has been there for man to accomplish, waiting for man to catch up.
God is eternal, unchanging, absolute and unique; therefore, the will of God is also eternal, unchanging, absolute and unique. God cannot yield His original standard or give up His principle because of the failure of men. He cannot compromise or deviate from His original goal no matter how much sacrifice we men have to pay. He cannot come down to the level of men; men must go up to the level of God.
Realization of the ideal hinges upon the perfection of one man
As soon as the fall of man took place, God's will focused on the goal of restoration. God Himself is destined to save mankind, to show people how to get out of the fallen state and into the original ideal of creation. That is the providence of God's salvation, or restoration. Throughout history men have not been in a position to save themselves; salvation comes instead from a higher place. This is why a savior must come to save mankind. As yet no individual has successfully showed God's original ideal of creation to the world.
Without having individual perfection or salvation there can be no family salvation, no social, national or world salvation. God has been thinking about how to establish one central champion who will give mankind His clear message and show the way to salvation. In the mind and heart of God that one man is the key because that one man's victory will bring not only his own individual perfection, 'out will open the way for family perfection, social, national and world perfection.
God knows this world is evil, and He cannot abruptly send His champion without having prepared some foundation. God's first task is to prepare the foundation on the individual level by working through central individuals, and then to prepare the family, social and national levels. This is how God came to prepare the nation of Israel. The chosen nation of Israel had the mission of receiving the Messiah and had been expecting his coming for 2,000 years before Jesus came.
Jesus Christ came for the will of God, to transmit God's will to the chosen nation of Israel. God was moving in a certain direction and Jesus Christ was moving parallel to that direction, so certainly the people of Israel were supposed to move in a way parallel to Jesus. If all three had been moving parallel in one direction, God's ultimate will could have been fulfilled in that nation. God and Jesus were united and all that was needed was to have the people of Israel unite with Jesus. After man's having fulfilled on the national level, expansion of that fulfillment to the worldwide level would have been assured.
As you know from the Principle of Creation, the perfection of Adam would not only have been the perfection of an individual but would have brought the perfection of the family. That would have expanded into the perfection of the clan, society, nation and the world. Therefore, one man of perfection could have brought world perfection. Then there would be only one ism necessary for all mankind -- Adamism. Under Adamism the individual would prosper, the family would prosper, and the society, nation and world would prosper.
The true forefather of mankind is that individual whose perfection represents not only his own success, but the perfection of the family, nation, world and cosmos. Today's world would be entirely different if Adam had accomplished that. We would not see all the disgusting sights that we witness every day. Neither would we see the language barriers and the national barriers separating people. Furthermore, every individual would understand the perfection of man and would also live in complete unity between spirit world and this world. Every individual could clearly map out his own way of life to reach the ultimate Kingdom of Heaven. The problem today is that man does not possess the living God and no one has given him true direction. Mankind lives random, wandering lives. In the original ideal this would never be; everyone would be guided into perfection in a way perfectly parallel with the will of God and no one could live outside that will.
The realization of the Kingdom of God hinges upon the perfection of one man. That one man will bring the perfection of the Kingdom of God here on earth, and thereafter will erect the Kingdom of God in Heaven. The citizens of the Kingdom of God will start their lives here on earth and after they consummate their lives here will automatically be elevated into the Kingdom of God in Heaven, where they will continue as families.
God's work begins here on earth
If there had been no fall the situations here on earth and in heaven would have been perfectly parallel. On earth there would be the individual, family, society, nation and world under God and the same would be seen in the spirit world. One united world would have occurred. It is God's will to see perfection come first here on earth; God never intended to have His Kingdom established in spirit world and then copied here on earth. Christians commonly think that the heavenly kingdom in spirit world is the perfected kingdom but that is not true.
Without perfection here on earth no perfection can be obtained there. There was always a blueprint in the mind of God, the original plan that always has been and will always remain perfect, even though the physical realization of these plans has never yet been seen. Jesus prayed, "Thy will be done here on earth as it is in heaven." Jesus knew the perfection of God's will in Heaven and he brought that will to earth, coming to establish perfection here so that mankind would bring the kingdom into heaven. That was God's plan.
God has not yet seen the perfection of His original plan here on earth, however, even after the coming of Jesus Christ. Because of the crucifixion Jesus could not accomplish the full purpose of his coming, the perfection of Adam's level. It was not at all God's original plan to fulfill the ideal by killing the Messiah. If that was indeed God's method then just sending him to a nation that was unprepared to understand him would have been sufficient. Sacrifice is sometimes necessary, but God did not intend the sacrifice of human life as the key to complete salvation. Because of the crucifixion Jesus Christ was not allowed to reach the fullest degree of perfection and no family, social or national perfection was obtained. Therefore, it is most logical that the Messiah must come a second time.
What will Jesus do when he comes? Will he come to wipe out the world? The word "judgment" is frequently misunderstood to mean that God will wipe out everything in anger. That is not the purpose of the Messiah's coming a second time. The whole purpose is to fulfill the mission that was left undone 2,000 years ago, to work for individual, family, social, national and world perfection. Judgment is the constructive work of God to see the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God here on earth.
Because the work of God is realistic and physical, the Messiah's coming on the clouds in the sky does not make sense. By interpreting the Bible literally many Christians anticipate Jesus' appearance in the sky, but that could not be so. People perceive God as being supernatural, someone who could perform even the miracle of bringing Jesus on the clouds. Why would Christianity be necessary in that case? Why would faith be necessary? Why didn't God use supernatural power to build up the Kingdom of God in the first place? Why has He had to wait for 6,000 years to accomplish this?
I want you to know that God's will in sending Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago perfectly parallels the coming of Adam in the garden of Eden. The Lord of the Second Advent will come for the same purpose. In other words, God's will, Adam's purpose, Jesus' purpose and the purpose of the Second Coming are all the same. Truth is unchanging, being the beginning and the end. The will of God cannot be changed or tarnished by time but will be the same forever. God has a formula and when it is fulfilled God will seal it. That particular formula is still there, unfulfilled; God is waiting for man to fulfill that pure, unadulterated standard.
God never detours
God has been working tirelessly for 6,000 years to accomplish one thing: the perfected Adam. God has been working to see that man as a model for mankind. Out of all the multitudes of men, the world has still not met that one man who is perfect in the sight of God. Yet no matter what, God's will is marching on. God promised a Messiah when Adam failed and if that Messiah cannot fulfill in the fullest degree then God will send another Messiah. That is the messianic concept. The Messiah's ideal is perfectly parallel with the ideal of God and therefore we can say that God and the Messiah are one.
For God and the Messiah to become one, what must the Messiah do? To answer that you must know why God created man. Was man created for himself or for someone else-for woman? If any man thinks he was born for self-glory, he is absolutely wrong. God created man for the sake of woman.
What kind of man was Jesus? Was he man or woman or in between? What is a true man? Is the President of the United States automatically a true man? The true man is one who perfectly fits God's framework, meaning that if God is round, that true man is perfectly round and if God is square, that true man is perfectly square. From day to night, from eternity to eternity he will not deviate from that standard.
Once he becomes a true man in the sight of God, will he waver and change or will he stick to God's one principle goal? Will the true man say, "Well, I will try this for ten years and if it doesn't work I will change"? Or will that man not change for ten years or one hundred years or for eternity? When there is danger to his life will he exclaim, "I definitely don't want to be in this situation. I must take cover"? Why not? If he deviates in any way then he is no longer like God because God never changes. Paralleling this, will you try first for a year or so and then see what happens? Would a true member of the Unification Church give up or change?
I want you to know that God is straightforward. He will not detour but will go ahead regardless of what happens. When God moves and there is an enemy roadblock, God knows that His advance will ultimately smash all opposition. God knows that it is the other side which will be shattered. Therefore, the true man and the true member is fearless, having the courage to clash with opposition and knowing the other side will eventually fall away. He will always take the adventurous way, not avoiding anything in order to seize the advantage. You must live that way every day. God is eternal; therefore, I am an eternal being. God is unique; therefore, I am unique. God is unchanging; therefore, I will never change. God is absolute so I am going to be absolute. That is the way you must think every day.
How do we know Jesus was a true man? He didn't write a big sign on his forehead or get a Ph.D. He didn't have any extraordinary size or power. Why do we know him to be a true man? We know Jesus was a true man because his way of life was parallel with the will of God and fit perfectly the description of God's way of life. We know that Jesus Christ was born solely for the will of God, that he lived solely for the will of God and that he died solely for the will of God. At the critical moment of Jesus' death on the cross he died as a Messiah and with the dignity of a Messiah, not as an ordinary man, a sad man or a man taking cover. He deeply felt, "Even though the Roman Empire opposes me now, it shall receive my mercy. Even though the Israelites oppose me, they shall receive my mercy." Therefore, Jesus had room to forgive them, room to pray for them and to embrace them.
Jesus could not give up the will of God by resenting their adamant opposition to his efforts to save them. Jesus certainly could not abandon his mission at that moment by hating the people. He was a true man because he perfectly lived the life of God. He was a walking God. There was no separation between God and Jesus, and because no one can destroy God no one can destroy Jesus Christ. The crucifixion was not his destruction; God manifested the power of resurrection so that the world could see that Jesus was never destroyed.
What attitude is needed in order to receive the Messiah?
Since the fulfillment of perfection was not obtained in Israel, God prepared the second Israel as the foundation upon which the second Messiah could come. That foundation is the work of Christianity. We must know that Christianity is the second Israel in the sight of God. The ultimate goal of Christians the world over is to receive the Messiah. They talk about this, but the most critical question for them is how they are going to meet the Messiah. Many Christians think that the Messiah will command extraordinary miracles to happen which will solve all the world's problems in one moment, instantly making the world the Kingdom of God. This is their ambiguous understanding but this could not possibly be so.
When the Messiah comes the second time he will start from the very bottom of man's situation and advance step by step to the height of the Kingdom. He brings the pattern which the rest of the world should follow and he will not compromise with the world. He will initiate the final showdown between good and evil. According to that standard, are modern day Christians ready to be lifted up to the Kingdom of God in heaven as perfected men and women? Not at all. They must transform themselves and change to fit into the pattern that the Messiah will bring; as the second Israel, Christians are to be the first people to change themselves into that model.
Even today there are people who think that the fall of man was in the plan of God. How ridiculous! If God had planned for evil and sin, He could never be a good God. God never intended the work of salvation to be needed; He originally intended only the garden of Eden, with Adam and Eve becoming the embodiment of perfection. A man of perfection does not require salvation. God would far more prefer to have man without any need for the dispensation of salvation.
How well do you know the will of God? Many Christians are convinced that God's will for them is to seek only their own chunk of heaven, and they could care less about the fate of the rest of the world. Meanwhile the nation and the world are crumbling and instead of feeling responsible, they expect God to handle everything. That is not true Christianity.
After the fall of man God's efforts focused on the work of salvation. I want you to know clearly that His target is the world, not just one man, one race, one people or one nation. God intended the Messiah to accomplish the fulfillment of perfection, not to create a multitude of denominations. He still is determined to achieve that one ultimate goal of perfection and unity between men, even if this may mean the sacrifice of the churches.
I have seen what the Kingdom of God is like in the spirit world and ultimately you too will see that God's Kingdom is not organized in the same divided way that religions are here. Such separation is truly contrary to the will of God. The conflict and division between religious people has been carried over into spirit world and brings grief to God. Yet that has been conventional faith.
How can you become true sons and daughters of Christ?
We believe in Jesus Christ as the savior and Messiah simply because we want to become the son or daughter who can fulfill the will of God. Jesus died for the sake of his mission, not just to acquire his own chunk of heaven. Don't ever worry about your own heaven, but worry about bringing down the Kingdom of God to your society and to this world. If you are like that, when you say to God, "I don't want to go to the Kingdom of God," God will chase after you and personally install you in the highest position in His Kingdom.
Jesus never complained to God about the rebelliousness of the very people he had been sent to save and never ceased caring about them. That was not Jesus' heart. Jesus knew clearly that his mission was not just the salvation of Israel but of the world. God would be most pleased to hear Jesus pray, "God, Your goal is world salvation. Please use me and Your chosen nation as Your sacrifice to fulfill Your work." Jesus became a son of God simply because he was perfectly united with God in will and in heart. Because of that oneness Jesus Christ could willingly die for the rest of the world.
How can you become the true sons and daughters of Christ? By becoming perfectly one with Christ, one with his spirit and one with his heart. If you are perfectly united with Jesus Christ you can be a willing sacrifice for-the salvation of the rest of the world. The true Christians are those who are willing to sacrifice themselves, their own church and their denomination for the fulfillment of the will of God for world salvation.
A true Christian could not pray for God's help and blessing for only his family. After knowing the truth of God's situation we can only pray, "God, I am ready to be Your sacrifice. Use me as Your instrument; fulfill Your will for world salvation through me. If necessary please sacrifice my family, church and nation." Such people will create the Kingdom of God.
Those who pray only for their own chunk of God's blessing will end up in hell. If you search closely you will discover that this is true. If God's sole concern is world salvation, do you think He would support the person who was interested only in himself, his family and his church, or would He side with the people who were most involved in world salvation?
Put yourself in God's position for a moment and look at the American churches. Not only are there a great many churches, but they are pursuing very different purposes and goals. White people organize together, black people organize their churches and yellow people organize their churches. Do you think this is a very beautiful thing for God to behold?
Absolutely not! If any Christian leader would call for his people to unite with other races then he could be considered a true Christian leader among his people.
Since we know the overall will of God, we can understand the world, which can meet that standard. Could Satan influence a perfected man? Even if Satan is standing right next to that man he is completely powerless to influence him. Satan could sneakily flip him over in his sleep, but upon awakening that man would realize what had happened and just flip back to his right position. It is a waste of Satan's energy to meddle with a perfected man.
Can Satan test God? God never told Satan that he could not try to test God, but Satan is not that dumb. He knows very well that no matter how much effort he makes, testing God is a waste of his time and energy. A man of perfection is just like God and Satan knows that testing him is a waste of time. When you become a man of perfection, Satan is powerless to influence you. You stand aloof of Satan's temptations.
Are you Unification Church members such men and women? How can you become that kind of person? The solution is simple: don't worry about yourself but think 100% of God. Decide that you will be as unchanging as God and cultivate that quality. Then you will graduate from temptation and Satan will have to testify that you have graduated out his sphere of influence. Satan will grudgingly acknowledge you.
Satan even tried to tempt Jesus Christ. After offering three temptations to Jesus, Satan came to the conclusion that he had no power over him. If even a little bit of selfishness, a little bit of ego, remained in Jesus' heart, Satan could have hooked it and pulled Jesus down to his dungeon.
Satan cannot grab any nation or person who serves the world
Which is the majority in the Unification Church, those who have graduated from the temptation of Satan, or those who are still susceptible? That is the key question of our Church. There are many ways for you to be tempted, but you must remember that while I certainly push you and send you out, I am having you do it not for me or for yourself, but for the sake of God, humanity and the world. I have never asked you to earn money for me. Wait and see who will be the winner in the sight of God, the Unification Church or our opposition.
I know very well that there are terrorist groups who think that by eliminating me they can destroy the Unification Church. How wrong and ridiculous their thinking is! If I were killed, God would raise up millions more like me to continue in His work. How are you members different from conventional Christians? Why are you here? God handpicks you and you joined this church to give yourself for the sake of God and humanity. The Unification Church sign at the door is insignificant and unnecessary. The significant thing is our purpose for being here. If there were no church at all under the sun but every person was eager to live for God and humanity then the Kingdom of Heaven would quickly come. No churches would be needed. That is the kind of world God wanted to build in the beginning. Adam failed so the coming of the Messiah became necessary. Jesus was not given a chance to succeed so the Second Coming became necessary. No one else in the world accepted the job so God raised the Unification Church to take up the task.
If you find something good, don't put it in your own pocket but think of God and humanity. Go to school to become champions for God and humanity. Go out and even fight for that purpose; that is the fight of righteousness. You do not have to know all 66 books of the Bible to know that God wanted to erect such a world and that you are chosen to help do that. If you give yourself for the sake of God and humanity then you already know the Bible to the fullest extent. You know more of God than anybody else.
If you become that kind of person you have already transcended the Old and New Testaments and Satan will not find any handle to grab you. There is only one way Satan could hook you; he must say, "1 love God more than you do. I love humanity more than you do and you must follow me." If that were the case then Satan would no longer be Satan but would already be working for God. When you worry about a thousand things before you concentrate on God, Satan has many hooks to manipulate you with on every level. How foolish to expose yourself in such a way to Satan's manipulation!
The nation will also be tested. For example, at one time America was trying to serve the world, but America has again become isolationist, giving its own domestic interests priority. Can Satan hook this nation or not? If America's 220 million people were united together to give themselves for the sake of the world, how great America would be. God has poured down the power and material blessing America needs to do just that. All this country lacks is the determination to do the job. America is in a position to lead, like a locomotive pulling a train, but if the locomotive is damaged then all the cars behind will be helpless. If one passenger foresees the danger to the locomotive, should he pull the emergency brake, even over the protests of other passengers? As long as the others do not know about the problem they will oppose and persecute him.
That is the job I have been doing in America. I know that danger is coming to America and that this locomotive should be kept intact at any cost. Even if there are repercussions locally from stopping the train so abruptly, such as disruption or fire, the greater tragedy still has to be averted. We are the champions to apply the brakes to stop the train and prevent the tragedy. If someone on the train pulled out a pistol and shot you, would you still pursue that mission or would you give up? If you were literally dying, what would your last words be? Would you just feel miserable, or would you shout, "Brother, sister, take my mission and go on"?
By inheriting the heart of Jesus you can do anything
In this world there are so many churches which are celebrating the birth of Christ right at this moment. They are having services and celebrations, and we are the only group representing the true heart of Jesus, which was filled with grief. This is the only group dedicating itself to go on with the mission of Jesus until it is fulfilled. I want you to know that under God's grace Christianity has been prospering for 2,000 years, but in less than two decades world Christianity has declined. Do you know why? Because of you; because of the Unification Church.
God is now raising this group up as His new champion, and in order to minimize opposition God is withdrawing His spiritual power from other groups. No matter how glorious the external church building is, with stained glass windows, plush carpets and a beautiful organ, the very important spiritual element is missing. No matter how great a theologian or evangelist emerges to revitalize the spirit of Christianity, it is not there because God has already shifted to another dispensation, centering on a new ideology and revelation. Any movement or church or individual who opposes this ideology will decline.
Before arriving at this particular level of achievement I had to go through certain courses to indemnify history. I am certainly an individual with my own will and naturally have the human desire to take care of myself. By understanding that kind of human tendency I evaluated all the many kinds of human desires and interests surrounding me. Then when I must make a decision about how to do the will of God, there is no kind of situation, which I am unfamiliar with. I have evaluated every possible situation.
With all that experience I came to one ultimate truth; the more you seek after your own benefit, the more your future will be blocked and will finally crumble. No matter how difficult it seems, when you are absolutely centered upon God and humanity nothing can block you. Any opponent will be shattered in any confrontation. I know this through my own experience.
Some people think, "Oh, Reverend Moon is a successful man; he has lots of money and lots of young people follow him. He receives tremendous respect so he must be very happy." Whoever says that truly does not know me at all. Every day I receive reports from all over the world. Do you think most of the reports are happy reports of success or are most of them heartbreaking? Every day I hear about someone who was arrested or who was tortured by communists, or about some extraordinary persecution, some church which has fallen apart or some nation or some missionary who is in trouble. If I were an ordinary man I just couldn't take the burden. I would have run away a long time ago.
Even America is not friendly. The press scrutinizes me with a biased outlook and parents are suspicious. We are in a fish bowl with everyone staring. If I were an ordinary man who had my temper-and I am a man of temper, no question about it-I would have lashed out at them long ago, or else shriveled into nothing. But that is not the kind of person I am.
You seem to be doing a most difficult job, going out fund raising and witnessing, but at least you have no overwhelming responsibility there. If other people respond then you have achieved something for God. If they don't respond, however, it's still all right and you can go on to another person. But I cannot take that position.
Ten years ago I was known as being penniless and today I am called a millionaire. But honestly speaking, I personally have no more money than I had ten years ago. Ten years ago the scope of the movement was smaller than today and so the scale of concern and worry was smaller. Today I can't put off critical work for lack of money because our movement has come to the stage where unless we take emergency measures a whole nation might crumble or Asia might disintegrate. I can't avoid tackling problems just because I don't think I have the physical, mental or financial capability. Regardless of what my capability is, once the problem comes I will never avoid it. I will grab it and solve it! That's why God needs me and that's why the world and America need me.
My secret comfort
I always have one secret comfort in any adverse and difficult position. I always remember that my Father in heaven has felt much greater suffering than I do and His is a much greater burden than mine. He has been weeping as he has faced a thousand times more emergencies than I have had. He is my Father and I must be like my Father. That is my secret and comfort.
God has come to me many times, saying, "You are my son. I thank you." God's comfort is sweet and nothing in this world can deter the power that comes from such comfort. Since Heavenly Father is comforting me I can go on. Anyone among you who can follow this way with 100% public-minded dedication shall also be comforted and I shall always stand side by side with you in spirit.
Since I cannot know everyone's situation I am praying to God, "Heavenly Father, please listen to them and help them. You must comfort them as much as you have comforted me. Father, you must do this for me!" This is why many extraordinary spiritual situations develop in the Unification Church. I am sure that in prayer many of you see visions and hear voices and receive special inspiration in your hearts. That is because God is directly reaching you as He reaches me.
Primarily the Protestant movement created the nation of America. We're closely watching the direction in which America is moving. I will give you this prophecy about the Papacy and the gigantic nation of America: As long as they are parallel with God's will they will prosper, but as soon as they separate themselves from the will of God they will be shattered. If they don't understand the will of God but oppose it out of ignorance then a great tragedy will come to this country and all the Christian communities of the world.
God is a living God and His goal is world salvation. Certainly God must be doing something to gather a group of people whose hearts can be ignited, who can become God's new champions and undertake the mission to save the world.
God's three headaches
The evil power of communism is creeping into the churches. The communists' most vicious tactic is to infiltrate in the disguise of priests, pastors and ministers. The propaganda of the communist ideology is being spoken in many churches today. These priests are proclaiming that Jesus Christ was the first communist because he blessed the poor and chastised the rich. The communists are wolves in sheep's clothing. If this is the world of reality then God needs you and the movement of the Unification Church in order to liberate all the churches of America and to eventually liberate the communists themselves. The living God and the living Jesus want to see this.
Many Roman Catholics misunderstand me so much that they want to destroy me and many church leaders have called me a heretic. But at the same time I desire to reach out and embrace them, not only to liberate them but to give salvation to all. God's greatest headache today is communism and God is looking for the people who will be responsible for defeating communism. Who is going to rebuild the Christian churches? After all, God has chosen them to be the foundation, the champions of the Kingdom. Who is going to re-ignite them?
A third headache of God is the moral degradation of the youth of the world, particularly the youth of America. Many of them are dependent on drugs and have become morally degraded by their practice of free sex. Who is going to rededicate these young people to the righteous cause? Do you think the Carter administration can be responsible for God's three headaches? No! The communists may very well deceive the present government and certainly they have no determination to stop communism. The American government cannot elevate American Christianity to heightened prosperity. The entire free world, the Papacy and all the churches together cannot unite to bring the necessary spiritual prosperity. Unless some champion can solve the three headaches of God, this world is facing doomsday.
You and I are here to tackle the three major headaches of God. The will of God is the liberation of the world. Our God given solution to these problems has been working, and all we have to do is reach the rest of the world. The communist elements are focusing their attack on me and churchgoers who want to enjoy the prosperity and luxury of their churches don't like me either. Those who want to see the young people corrupted also don't like me.
No matter how strong our opposition may be, God's determination is stronger. As long as that is true you have nothing to worry about. We members of the Unification Church solemnly declare that we will tackle this mission of being champions of God. We are joining in the spiritual revolution and will heal the corrupted youth; we will bring the solutions to the Christian community. We certainly have the answer to communism. We join together for the liberation of the world and the liberation of mankind, but that's not all. We are gathered together to liberate the heart of Jesus and of God Himself. No Christian churches today are proclaiming this goal. Nobody outside our church is teaching this purpose. As long as we continue on our march, we are the only hope of the world, the hope of Jesus and the hope of God, and no one can destroy this movement. We can only win and prosper in due course.
We are gathered together to participate in the historic mission in which Jesus and God will take delight. That is truly the spirit of Christmas and we are celebrating in that spirit. We are not in darkness. We know the truth and we have already begun the march toward the goal. The only remaining question is how far you can march. Can you march from the east coast of the United States to the west coast toward Asia, the Middle East, Europe, across the Atlantic Ocean and back to the United States? Can you march around the world? As members of the Unification Church, you must pray, "Heavenly Father, give me longer arms so I can embrace the world, so I can lift up the world to Your throne. I know that Your goal is world salvation and my arms are reaching out to the world, but they are not long enough, Father. Please lengthen my arms and strengthen my feet so I can lift up the world. I am taking Your responsibility." Anyone who tells God, "You know that I have given myself; I cannot reserve anything. Everything is for You. Please accept it and do Your will" knows that God's eyes will fill with tears and that God will come down and embrace such a person.
I am trying to live up to that every day. I know the embrace of God, but how much will I feel closer to Him when I've completed my mission! How much delight God will take after the world is His again. This is my goal and direction and you are here to join me in that pursuit. If you die in such a struggle then your death is never in vain because you are not living for your own sake.
As long as the Unification Church has that goal we will never be destroyed. Rest assured, no power can destroy you. If you are always busy with your mission then God is always behind you, pushing like a tailwind. Don't turn around to face God because He will not want to see your face until the final victory. This is the true Christmas.
In the name of God and in the name of Jesus Christ we are celebrating the true Christmas. The year of 1976 is over and our determination is that the true spirit of Christmas will go on through the third century of America, from 1977 to the ultimate fulfillment of the glory of God. Let us join together on this Christmas day to pledge ourselves to God by raising both hands.
Thank you. Let us pray.
