Belvedere, New York
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
The topic of the message this morning is "Word and Deed." In our daily lives our words are very important. Our words do many critical things: they can give inspiration, bring happiness, or cause heartache. People commonly compliment those who can speak well; however, in order to be successful in our lives words alone are not adequate. Words must be backed up by deeds.
We have to determine the secret of success in human life. Which is better, to have more words and fewer deeds, or fewer words and more deeds? The combination of words and deeds that a person has determines his value and defines his personality and character. That criterion is the same, whether for man or for God. Let us think about God for a moment because God also speaks and acts.
Since God is omnipotent and omnipresent, nothing is impossible for Him. In that case, why does He even bother to speak? God, the Almighty Creator does not have to explain His actions to anyone or make excuses. Then why does God need to speak; why does He bother?
When there is happiness and joy in our lives on earth and also in spirit world, we laugh and dance and sing. However, we cannot communicate joy or happiness by ourselves. In order for God to express His joy, He needs something, too. We know God speaks and acts, but why? In order to create? The Bible says that God created the world by His Word. Does that mean God climbed up to the top of a mountain and shouted out for creation to appear?
Is God really only interested in creating things? The creation must have some purpose; God is not creating just for the sake of creating. There must be a central reason why God speaks and acts, but what is it? We know God speaks and acts for the salvation of the world. However, in reality, the salvation of the world was never intended by God; it became necessary only after the fall. Let me ask you Unification Church members something. Do you want to have this emergency state requiring the restoration of the world to continue for eternity, or do you want to finish the restoration and have a new day dawn?
God wants to see the new day dawn, too. He is surely doing salvation work, but that is not His permanent job. He wants to finish it quickly. Restoration is a necessity right now only because the original concept of creation was not fulfilled. But beyond the salvation work and beyond the creation God still would have been speaking and acting. Why? For love, true love. If that is so, then what is true love?
No one can really explain true love with the words of men. When true love comes, our very bones and organs, our five senses will all smile and burst into laughter at the same moment. Then what would our minds do? While our bodies are smiling and bursting with joy, would our minds be stone cold? When we contact true love, everything reacts. There is harmony and united action. Our whole mind and body react to it in harmony. This is an eternal and -universal principle.
What is dancing? There are many different kinds of dance, but in all of them, before your arms and legs begin to move, your mind is already dancing. Why do we dance? To satisfy someone else? Dancing is truly an expression of love, an expression of joy. The heavenly world is a world of music, a world of dance, and a world of laughter. Think for a moment about beautiful songs. Are there many songs in praise of oneself, songs which say, "I am a hero," or "I am a heroine"? That kind of song does not appeal to people; even one short song like that would bore them. That kind of song cannot be repeated twice, ten times, or a hundred times.
But when you sing a song of love, there is still freshness, newness and excitement after repeating it a hundred times, a thousand times. A song of love can be repeated for a millennium, and there is still freshness and excitement. If the entire universe were completely packed with power, money and knowledge, there still would be room for a song of love.
Money, power, and knowledge do not last forever, but a song of love has eternal freshness, eternal awareness, and eternal joy. The ideal world and particularly the perfected spirit world is the world of love. Love is perpetually consummated there. Out of that world comes music, singing, dancing, and the joy of laughter. Everything centers around this one true love, the central quality of the ideal world and heaven. Do you take exception to this? Does anyone not want it?
Everyone looks forward to the ideal. In the ideal world, nobody tries to claim that he is a hero or a heroine, demanding respect. It is not that kind of world. Instead, everyone wants to melt into the world of love, to have harmonious give and take with one another.
In the world today there are many for whom money is everything. They think money brings the utmost happiness; they want to be rich and to show off; they want to have a mansion, to have everything. They think that wealth is the consummation of human life. With the exception of Unification Church members, American women look forward to having very rich husbands. Probably their next highest goal is to marry a man of infinite intelligence who has a Ph.D. from Harvard or Yale. Or perhaps their goal is much higher. Perhaps they want to be the First Lady, to enjoy power in the world so that everyone will come and pay respect to them. Is that your goal, too? These things may be fine, but they come and go. They will not remain; they will disappear like the morning dew.
Let us think about words of love. When you express your love in words, do you give an explanation for it or put some condition on it? Do you say, "I love you because you have lots of money, or because you are the President of the United States"? There is no explanation for real love, it communicates directly. Would you prefer the kind of love which requires an explanation, or the kind which comes directly to your heart and which you feel in your very bones?
We must realize that there are many, many kinds of love. There is the kind of love that is deceitful, the kind of love that tries to take advantage of others, the kind of love that manipulates others; there are so many false colors of love. Love not only builds with a most beautiful and supreme power, but it can destroy. When misused, love can be a deadly poison for you and can even destroy the world. Do you know what I mean?
If we classify love, there are primarily two kinds: God-centered love and Satan-centered love. How are they different? First of all, God-centered one common goal; they act with one purpose, in one direction.
True love is a uniting force, and therefore the common point of unity between the mind and body, between men and women, between families, and between friends. Then what is the standard and formula of unification? Love sets the standard. Love is the common place where the subject and object can meet, where the mind and body can meet, where men and women can meet, and where parents and children can meet. God is dwelling at that central point. Because love actually belongs to God, it comes from a place higher than yourself.
Why does God place His throne at that particular position of love? God is seeking for an object. Being love, God is seeking that common place where love is responding to Him. We commonly say that the human body is the temple of God, but what is a holy temple? Is that a place to work for a living? Is it a factory, an office? When you think of a holy temple, you immediately visualize some permanent resting place where you can have peace and tranquillity.
The dwelling place of love must be a place of tranquillity because without love there is no tranquillity or peace. If we are the temple of God, we are a resting place, a holy place, a dwelling place of God's love. This is the only way we can restore peace and tranquillity. You can rest in yourself when you have God's love. We want to elevate ourselves as holy temples of God and become dwelling places of God in which we can restore our peace and tranquillity forever. We call the world of people with those kinds of personalities the world of heart. When you invite God to dwell within you, within your own holy place, then His love is like spring water. No matter how much you consume, the fresh water will keep coming. It will never stagnate and never run out. Don't you want to become that kind of person?
If you become that kind of person, a temple of God, you can comfort those who are sad and crying. If you are becoming the consummation of the love of God, then you are becoming a perfected man, and those who come near to you will melt in the spring love alone can harmonize the body and mind. No human effort, no glue in the world can make two things come together the way love can.
In the Unification Church we call each other brothers and sisters. How do we become brothers and sisters? People commonly say that we become brothers and sisters by the word of God, through the Divine Principle. But what would you want, just the Divine Principle itself or a personality that is already living the Divine Principle? When you really live and consummate the Divine Principle, your personality has a heart of love.
"Word and Deed" is my topic today. To be a person of noble character means that one's words and deeds are united by one common principle, that one speaks and acts in complete unity. Still, we can see many people who speak one way and act another. If you look at a noble or godly person from the standpoint of his words, however, you will find that they are united with his deeds; and if you look at him from the standpoint of his deeds, you will find they are united with his words. No matter which angle you look at a godly person from, you will not find contradictions, but rather harmony and unity. How about you? Are you completely one in word and deed? Anybody who can claim to his own wife, to his nation, and to God that his words never contradict his deeds is indeed a consummated, perfected man.
We must also consider what those words and deeds are centered upon. Some people can say that their words and deeds never contradict each other as far as money is concerned. Where business is concerned, their word is gold. Many scholars are proud to say that while they are pursuing the knowledge of the universe, their words and deeds are just the same. Powerful rulers of the earth, presidents, kings and emperors of the world might say that their words are law, that their words bring about action, and consequently that there is complete oneness between their words and deeds. There are many who have lived with that kind of standard.
Considering the true value of life, what kind of rating can we give such people? Their words and deeds are united, but with a certain emphasis: money, power, or knowledge. From God's point of view, are they below the standard of His Word, or above? These different standards are real in human life, not hypotheses. We can witness them every day, both in the Unification Church and outside. Which is your emphasis? If you become a man of united word and deed, then with which emphasis, on what foundation do you want to live? If your emphasis and foundation are not clear, your direction will be unsteady and your course could be shaken or disturbed.
What emphasis can bring you higher value? Nobody can deny that the most supreme way of life, the supreme unity between word and deed, begins with the emphasis of love. With this conclusion, now think for a moment. Would anybody say, "Something seems wrong; I do not completely agree. I want to bring revolution; I want to break love apart and rebuild it." Is that possible, or is love such that the most evil person under the sun could not think of revolutionizing it?
Love is universal. Everything under the sun can be united around it. If you emphasize money, you can control a certain segment of life; if you emphasize knowledge or power, you can unite or control other segments, but you cannot have universal success. There are so many people who claim to be wise, but God is the King of wisdom. If God and a man of wisdom both think deeply about something then they can come to the same conclusion, but for them to have any kind of a lasting, universal unity and peace, their relationship can only be centered on love.
Emphasis on love alone can bring nobility to man's way of life and make it sublime. Is God or love the center of heaven? It is very difficult to decide between them; we are torn apart. We finally have to say that the center of heaven is God with His love. None of us can dispute that, whether we are white or black or yellow. We are seeking, longing for God and that kind of universal love.
Therefore both God and love are the center of the universe. Then in order to become a universal man, where should you stand-on the outskirts or right in the center? You should make your center with God and His love. The center with God and His love is already there, and you are making yourselves acceptable to that center. You are moving into that center.
God does not stand still; He breathes and He acts. Because He is the universal center, when he breathes the entire universe breathes together with Him. There is nothing that does not come under His influence. You cannot say, "I have nothing to do with God's breath or with His influence." That is the same an expression of some sensation that you cannot help but express. This kind of dynamic, ideal life is what we have to accomplish.
For a moment let us concentrate our thoughts on religion. Religion is one method in human life for searching after God. But is God actually the ultimate goal? No. We are trying to go into the realm of the love of God, trying to be intoxicated by or drowned in God's love. That is the purpose of religion. But you know, the thrilling yet sad part is that if there had been no human fall, we would not have needed religion; we would have been born in the central position and would have grown up in it to enjoy and live in heaven for eternity.
There are many facets of love and life that do not need explanation, that you do not have to learn in a classroom. Do you need to learn the theory of love between parents and children? It is natural; it should automatically become part of you. Love is like air. You don't have to explain where air is to breathe it 24 hours a day. Man was born to breathe the love of God. If you had to go somewhere to get air to breathe, you would soon run into trouble because there would be a long waiting line for air. But air is everywhere and the love of God is also everywhere; it would have been our environment if we had not fallen.
We should feel the love of God naturally, but we cannot because a great deal of blockage was brought about by the fall of man. Once this is removed, however, God's love will become natural to you. Our individual center should be based in the center of God; there should be a common center.
Fundamentally speaking, why are people born? You are not born for the accomplishment of power and money and knowledge, but for the accomplishment of love. You are born for love, also from love. God made love so great as to be the source of life. We are the result of love, not the result of life. We were all born, not by competition between our parents, but in the beauty of love. That is the cause of life for all humanity. No birth is the result of the mother and father sitting and counting money. No one was born as the result of discussing the most important scientific theory.
From love, life emerged, you emerged. We are caused by love and our purpose is to result in love. The unity of love of the subject and object brings a new germination of life. Therefore, any married couple without children is somehow unstable. Even though the husband and wife become one, without children there is no common accomplishment which can vividly show that they are one. Even though there may be some squabbles between husband and wife, when they look at their own children their differences can usually be resolved. It was God's ideal when He put men and women together that they produce a family; God intended to see their children.
All human actions and our life of love are always submerged in the love of God. The atmosphere of God's love embraces all life. The promise of love is the supreme force in this universe. When Adam and Eve are united in love, that event is really the most important happening in the universe. God, all the creation, and Adam and Eve will focus their entire attention on it.
God represents the past, while Adam and Eve represent the present, and their children represent the future. The past, present and future are all united in the one embracing atmosphere of the love of God. Your individual position is a composite of the past, present and future. Because God took part in your creation, the past is represented in you. Because your parents were involved, the present is there, and you yourself represent the future. Through love one unified position was created, and through that position one life was born.
When parents have a child, they always embrace the child; they want to touch and hug him. There is a mysterious force working here, the force of God's love. Because the child is a manifestation of the parents' love, the child participates in his parents' love and they are all one.
Of course God also participates in that position because His love created the environment. Once you are all united in love, nothing under the sun can separate you. That is the ideal. Once love is flowering in the environment of the love of God, everyone wants to stay there forever; everyone wants to make it eternal. Do you think God will say, "Well, in a little while I will change it"?
In God's concept of the ideal, loving relationships are established on an eternal basis, Therefore, God wants to see men and women in love and to see that love perpetuated for eternity. Don't you want to have your parents' love last for eternity? Would you want to have them love you for ten years and then separate from you? Wouldn't you mind? Whether it is the love between husband and wife, parents and children, or between God and men, we all anxiously desire that the love be perpetual.
You are the representative of your parents' love, the fruit of their love. Furthermore you are representative of the love of God; you are the living example of His love. God dwells where the warmth of love is and that is heaven. Whether here on earth or in spirit world, this one principle stands: The essence of heaven is God's love. The repetition of love is the formula that creates history. There is a real history of love which is woven from generation to generation.
In the Divine Principle we are concerned with the heavenly four position foundation. The four positions represent the various facets of human love centered on God. Therefore, once we create that heavenly four position foundation, nothing can disrupt it. Where is heaven then? Beyond the Pacific Ocean? No, heaven is within you, within the heart of a wife, the heart of a husband, the hearts of the children, the hearts of the grandparents. Heaven is not any kind of Disneyland; heaven is in the midst of you because the place where you are becomes God's dwelling place and the dwelling place of your parents. All love is located right there where you are.
Once the consequences of the fall are liquidated, you will not have to search after heaven. You are supposed to be born in heaven, to grow up there, and be perfected and consummated in heaven.
To say "I," means to be responsible. You cannot say, "I don't care about anything," because "I" is a representative of the parents, and a representative of the love of God, and they care. Your situation is not simple. You are a very heavenly burden in that respect. Today's most important new awakening centers on "I." Many people say, "I don't care," or "Why do you care about me? I don't need you. I can do anything I want." This kind of "I" is not the true one. When you understand God's concept of the ideal, you become a very responsible "I." When you say "I," your parents are automatically involved and God is involved; your past, present and future are all involved in "I."
We must have three prides: First, pride in history; or our past; next, pride in our present, and finally pride in our future. Particularly in America there are people who are crazy about antiques. America is only 200 years young, not yet that old, but American people are still nostalgic about the past. They are even trying to create antiques. If they use brand-new wood to build a home or to make furniture, they try to make it look old. Sometimes they dent it with hammers, or use streaky paint and sprinkle it with spots; they even make holes here and there to make it look 100 years old.
Why do men do such crazy things? Their actions express a human desire for history. People want to register themselves in history; they want to remain longer. Antiques are expensive because their value comes from their history. If you have something in your home that your great-great-grandfather used, then you have some personal link to history. No money can buy that kind of value. This trait reflects a desire of our original nature.
If you hurt yourself, you are not hurting only yourself, you are hurting the fruit of parental love, and you are hurting the manifestation of God's love. If parents see their child in a great deal of pain, they certainly feel that pain. God too, feels that pain. If there is something in which you take great delight, then your parents can also take great delight, as well as God. Your feelings are parallel.
In America, however, young people do not know much about their parents. They think, "My parents gave me life, so their job is finished. I'm independent; I have nothing to do with them." This shows that American culture is losing the beauty of family life and sinking closer to the animal kingdom. This kind of thinking goes against the universal principle of God and is more dangerous than the hydrogen bomb. When God looks at American society and particularly at the American family system, He does not have too much hope for America; its future is dismal and unstable because the most important trunk line for His truth is being lost.
Suppose that you sisters looked in the mirror and became convinced that the best feature of your face was your eyes. Then you would love your eyes, but as you say, "I have the two most beautiful, sparkling eyes in the world," you should call your left eye your mother's eye and your right eye your father's eye. Identify parts of you as your mother's and parts of you as your father's. It is a beautiful thing to took at yourself as an expression of your parents. Everybody cares for himself or herself, but you must not do it for yourselves; do it for your parents and for God. That is beauty. Then you will love your parents and care for your own mother and father and God to the same degree that you love yourself and want to care for yourself.
There is no selfishness in this way of life. Even though a person may love himself or herself, it would not be selfish love. When you have something at school to be joyful about, then your parents will be very happy too. At such a moment have you ever thought, "Oh, God must be happy." If you are smiling, do you think, "Oh, God must be smiling too." When you are really ecstatic and dancing around, then remember that this is not just your joy; this is also your parents' joy and even God's joy. He must be dancing upstairs.
The entire universe will also be dancing around you. Your joy will echo throughout the universe and spread like a wave. This can be seen in nature. When springtime comes, Belvedere is a very beautiful place and many birds sing in the early morning. However, they all sing differently: cheep cheep, chirp chirp, tweet tweet, and soon they become a New Hope Singers International.
When you express joy, it will be echoed by another, and then it will spread out in a wave through the entire universe, in a beautiful echo of life. But that echo of life, the echo of your singing and dancing, is not just for yourself. When you are fully aware that you are the representative of your parents and of God, then you will feel that God is dwelling in you, and that you are singing and dancing and joyful for Him and for your parents. Then would God come out and say, "You! Shut up! Why do you wake me up this early in the morning?" Will your parents say, "Stop shouting! Come and eat"?
You are precious, so go ahead and praise yourself, but not out of your own ego or for self-aggrandizement. You are the result of history; you are the expression of thousands of years of history and tradition. Furthermore, God has been working behind all those accomplishments. To know that God has made His dwelling place in you is a beautiful realization. It is a beautiful ideal life. The person who stands in that center has the approval of God. He has passed the test of life. In so many cases, however, we flunk this course of life.
Where were your born? Where did you originate? You were born out of the love of parents and the love of God; don't forget that. God's intervention played an important part in your birth, and you are the result of your parents' love; therefore, the world of men is an expansion of your father's world, and the world of women is an expansion of your mother's world. When you have your parents, you own the entire universe.
Together they represent the entire world of men and the entire world of women, and both are manifested in you; you are the focal point of the microcosm of the universe. When you are centered and your deeds are righteous then your deeds will bring you tremendous joy, and certainly your father and mother would share your joy, and through them the rest of the world would share your joy.
Everyone respects the pious son and daughter who are faithful to their parents because that piety is approved by the universe. With that heart you become a catalyst or central point for your parents to relate to the rest of the world. Your parents are beside you from your birth on, and God is always involved; these same heavenly four positions will multiply into a society, nation and world. That is how the ideal life can be expanded into heaven here on earth.
The heavenly four positions represent all the loving relationships of human life on a worldwide and universal scale, and ultimately the Kingdom of God here on earth. It starts on a small scale, with you in the center; then it expands to your family, your society, nation and world. The most important aspect here is the quality of love that you demonstrate. When you demonstrate unselfish love toward your parents, you will become a pious son; and when you demonstrate that unselfish, most beautiful love toward the nation, you will be regarded as a patriot. When you demonstrate this beautiful love toward humanity, you will be known as a saint or holy man. The quality of these loves is the same because they start from the same central point; they do not have separate centers. Those who possess the central position of love shall indeed be known as the sons and daughters of God. From the nation's point of view, they are the most patriotic people in God's kingdom, and from God's universal point of view they are the most holy people. But they always begin as sons and daughters of God.
The entire teaching of God's truth can be summarized in one simple sentence: All mankind desires to become sons and daughters of God, even in the fallen world. We know that the fallen world resulted from the fallen ancestors of mankind. To restore the fallen world, someone has to bring a new, common center to the universe: God's center. Therefore, we need new, God-centered parents, and the concept of True Parents came into being.
The entire teaching of the Bible leads toward one simple truth: The fallen world was brought about by Satan through false parents; therefore, God will establish a new beginning point of a new human history, the True Parents. Through them all humanity can be grafted into the new history. We must be grafted into the true olive tree. From being wild olive trees representing the satanic world, we will begin a new life and new history. What is the ultimate goal? To become children of God.
Let us come back to this morning's topic. Words do not exist for their own sake, nor do deeds happen for their own sake. Words and deeds must serve some purpose. What is the qualification for speaking or acting? You must speak as a son or daughter of God, and you must act as a son or daughter of God.
What should you be in order to qualify as sons and daughters of God? You must realize that you are the manifestation of the True Parents' position, their labor, and their love, and furthermore, of God's love. With that realization you have already accomplished the heavenly four positions; God is definitely with you, and True Parents are definitely with you. By uniting with them you represent the four positions, and in heaven and earth you can be proclaimed as a son or daughter of God.
No one can take that concept out of your mind. If people beat you up and throw you in jail, they still cannot remove the realization from your mind that you are one with Heavenly Father and the True Parents, and that you are the representative of the heavenly four positions. You don't need to worry about where you will end up; if someone pushes you down to the dungeons of hell, you will never remain there. As though on a springboard, you will fly up to the highest position of heaven. Our salvation is guaranteed. You must become men and women of heart and realize these things through feeling and emotion, not just by logic. These feelings must be embedded in your bones, so deeply that even unconsciously they are always part of your life, and nothing could ever change them.
Individually you are related to the past, present, and future. Because your father represents the world of all men, you have a connecting point there. Your mother is represented in you, so you can love all women, and you can love the future because you represent the future of God, and the future of your parents.
You are the manifestation of universal love from all directions. Ultimately we are all supposed to go to the throne of God, but you don't go alone. You go together with the True Parents, and God will open His arms and welcome you. If you approach His throne with your True Father and Mother, you are actually coming with the entire universe. Father represents the world of all men, and Mother represents the world of all women. Together you approach as universal beings. Therefore, you are not alone; when you are with them you go with the whole world. If you are moving toward the throne of God with Father and Mother, God certainly cannot afford to reject you.
How can you win Father and Mother so they will embrace you and you can go together with them to the throne of God? You can win them by making yourself acceptable to Father's heart and by making yourself acceptable to Mother's heart. In a simple way of speaking, you must become a pious son or daughter. When you can move their hearts, then you can certainly move the heart of God.
This is the eternal formula. The ideal person or perfected person in the sight of God is the person who loves all men as he loves his father, who loves all women as he loves his mother, and who loves all mankind as God loves mankind. In other words, this person can look down on the world from the viewpoint of God. That person is truly a perfected person, who can pass any test of God.
That person has a free pass to the Kingdom of God in heaven. Even if God is asleep in a kingsize bed, you can tumble in and disturb Him and God will accept you. With your words and deeds united, you can perfect yourself so that you automatically live, speak, and act in harmony. Such a person is perfected; there is no further goal beyond that.
Words are so powerful that they can build or destroy the world. Isn't that true? When your heart is established in the love of God, whatever language you speak is an expression of love. That language may sound very harsh or unkind, but since it is from the love of God, it will always build, never destroy. The word is also a judge. If I speak about a definite standard, those words become the judge. If a happy looking person is listening, he may immediately become very serious. Perhaps that person comes to me and says, "I did this and this; can you forgive me?" Then a simple word of forgiveness can lift that person's morale instantly.
Love is so powerful that when you are based on heavenly love, your words become powerful as well. As long as that word is based on love, it will only build and never destroy. When you act from that heart, your action will further harmonize the entire universe instead of taking anything away from the universe.
What kind of place is the Unification Church? What is the fragrance of the Unification Church? When you go to the fish market there is a smell of fish, and when you go to a hog farm there is a smell of hogs. So what is the smell of the Unification Church? The Unification Church has a concrete logic, philosophy and conviction which you heard about this morning. You are speaking as sons and daughters of God, going out to the world, manifesting yourselves as representatives of God. We gather together here as a building force, a cleaning force of the universe, not as a destructive force. We are here with the smell and fragrance of God's Kingdom, in the capacity of sons and daughters of God. If you go out to act with that commitment and realization, you can bring a beautiful result, But if that foundation is shaken, you will never build anything.
Actually, neither your words nor your deeds are important, but rather what you are is all important. If you have absolute conviction and awareness as sons and daughters of God, you can go out and act as you wish, and everything you do shall become a manifestation of the love of God. Simply speaking, you are living not for yourself, but for your own parents, True Parents, and God, who is the ultimate parent. Your real parent is the God who embraces all humanity, so you also must live for humanity.
When we talk about world humanity, we are actually talking about brothers and sisters. White and black together make the most exciting beauty because then we have more stimulation among ourselves. When whites love blacks, and blacks love whites, it is much more beautiful than just whites loving whites, and blacks loving blacks. When your words and deeds are words of love for your own parents, and your own brothers and sisters, then there is no way you can be hindered from moving in any direction.
You could go on speaking 24 hours a day because everything you would do is the expression of the inmost nature of God's love. If nobody is listening, then the floor will listen and the air will listen; all nature will listen to you. Creation will respond to anything that you do. That kind of world is our eternal world; the spirit world is already living that principle.
Our ultimate destination is heaven. Here on earth we have the opportunity to discipline ourselves and to create our character which will be magnified in heaven. When you have become the personification of God's love, people will accept and love whatever you say. People will accept and love whatever you do.
Put yourself for a moment in the position of parents. How do your parents feel? They want you to love your brothers and sisters more than you love them because they represent God, and God feels that way. The hearts of parents and the heart of God have much in common. The greatest love in this universe is parental love. This love is most pure because it is absolutely unselfish. A true husband would want to have more benefit come to his own wife than to himself. He would always take more delight when his wife is honored and praised or given beautiful gifts than when he is.
Any love that is close to parental love is noble and sacred, and the more unselfish love is, the closer it is to parental love. The entire universe is moving toward that ultimate, supreme form of love because that is the very love of God. God exists totally for the sake of His children. In the world of love, anyone who tries to raise himself up to the highest point receives the worst mark. In the world of love, that standard doesn't work.
In the world of love, sacrifice is the supreme value. Any religion that is close to God's heart demonstrates a sacrificial, dedicated spirit. No parents calculate how much love they will give to their children, saying, "I'll pay your tuition for college, but you'll have to buy me a big house in the future." Rather, they give without reservation, and they delight in their son or daughter growing up and accomplishing something important for the nation, the world, or for the sake of humanity. That reflects the very feeling and thinking of God.
Anyone who violates this way will become the least in the world of God, and anyone who emphasizes it will become a giant. A true parent will teach you to become a sacrificial person. Forgetting about themselves, parents emphasize being sacrificial for others. They will say, "You go and love the world the way I loved you." Such people are true parents.
Let us examine the Unification Church from this criterion. Are we on the right track or the wrong track? Am I teaching you that you must love me today, and 24 hours a day every day, or am I teaching you that more than anything else you should go out and give yourselves in a sacrificial way to serve God and humanity? When we live that principle, are we destined to be destroyed or successful? Actually this is the real secret of heavenly conquest. Heavenly conquest is accomplished by love, by melting peoples' hearts with the power of love. Your parents, humanity, the nation, even God, all their hearts can be melted by the power of love. You can conquer God and make Him helpless toward you. When this love just whispers, even just exists, God wants to be there. Just ask Him to come; He will dash to that place. You already command me in this respect.
From this point of view, the harder the mission the better, because it gives us a better chance to test ourselves and to prove how worthy we are in the sight of God. Heroes are born only during emergency and crisis. Under the most adverse conditions we can prove ourselves to be sacrificial and truly unselfish. We have only the one limited period when we are living here on earth to demonstrate that spirit. Compared to eternity, our lives here on earth are like a spark of light.
Our time here on earth with this physical body is our opportunity to perfect our love and our spirit. We need our bodies to demonstrate our love of God. That is why our bodies are important. There is a world of problems out there; that is good. This is our opportunity to apply the Principle and live it. This is where the deeds come in.
Therefore I have stirred up controversy and have become a problem to the world, but in a good way. I am not casting out poison. Rather, there is so much poison already that I became controversial by neutralizing the poison. I am the first one to come with the power to neutralize the poison that Satan has been spreading for 6000 years. By doing this I have created controversy.
People outside may think that I am the worst kind of devil. Let them think that way, but let them come to see me. Then they will realize that I am entirely different from their original understanding. In order to restore something, you normally have to make one full cycle and return, like making a U-turn in a street. But in order to make controversy and speed up the restoration, we have jumped around instead. I cannot afford to spend time going all the way around.
If people have a negative image of me, that is fine; at least they know me. Then all they have to do is one simple flip, and we can make that happen overnight. That is possible here on earth while we have a physical body. In the past, some of the worst sinners became saints overnight, but a miraculous transformation like that is possible only in the physical world. Once you take off your physical body and are elevated to the spirit world, you need millions of years to make one inch of spiritual advancement.
While we have spirit and body together here, we can create a miracle because our bodies can demonstrate our hearts and extraordinary change can come about. But once you lose your physical body and become only a spirit, your opportunity is gone. Then in order to act, you have to come down and work with somebody on earth. If even your own body does not respond too well to your mind sometimes, what will happen with someone else's body? It is very clumsy and awkward to accomplish anything. Once we clearly know the truth about God, the more we live a sacrificial way of life, the better it is for our own achievement.
Do not give lip service to your brothers and sisters by not speaking from your heart. Unless you have deep motivation to do something, do not do it. Doing something only to impress someone will become the worst kind of burden in the spirit world. Spiritual law does not provide any means to restore acts and words that are not truthful. Just being Unification Church members is not a guarantee of heaven; it depends on how much you live the truth. Now you know how to become sons and daughters of God, so all that remains is to speak the right words and do the right deeds.
It is so important to speak and act from your heart. Then wherever you go, you do not even have to prepare; your words are ready and your deeds are ready. When you go out with the right motive and the right heart, your actions are automatically there. Whatever you do, fund raise or witness, you have one central goal: you do it to become a pious son or daughter of God. You want to become a true patriot in the Kingdom of God. You want to become a saint and holy man in the sight of God. One central, common principle can accomplish all those with dignity.
I proudly send you out to fund raise; our members sell peanuts and flowers, but there is no shame in that because our purpose is far greater than working for Ford Motor Company, IBM, or anyone. There is no nobler heart or more sublime task. Our love for our parents, for our society, our nation, humanity, and God will get stronger, and our spiritual maturity and accomplishments in the sight of God will become gigantic by living this way. Since our motivation is right, why should we be ashamed?
We will become prosperous by leaps and bounds because this is the truth of God; it is the only path to follow. Unselfish deeds are bound to be successful because everyone's innate nature longs for such accomplishments; eventually that is the only way to win the world. That is the way I have always wanted to live and the way I have always lived. In Korea and Japan, night after night I did not even look at the clock. Even at three or four o'clock in the morning, as long as someone was listening to me, I did not notice the time; I kept teaching.
The international leaders come and report to me at East Garden. I am always enthusiastic, talking with them and listening, but by twelve or one o'clock I can read their minds, "Father, why do you keep on like this; why don't you tell us to go to bed and rest?" But I never tell them that because as a parent I always feel such excitement in my heart that I just do not want to quit. God, too, is always awake and enthusiastic and paying attention to every little thing His children do.
This is my advice to you: do not speak if your heart is silent, and do not act unless your heart is sincerely moved. We have so much to say and do in this world that once we know the value of it we can throw ourselves wholeheartedly into our task. Why do we have to go witnessing? If you can bring one person from the streets of New York into a realization of God, all of his ancestors can be elevated. Through earthly deeds many souls will be assisted in spirit world. When you distribute the truth of God, you are becoming a mediator of His love. Through you so many people can come to know the truth and raise up their eternal life; you are a mediator of love, pouring out the love of God to them. Your position is absolutely beautiful as spiritual mothers and fathers.
You don't know the impact of your witnessing. You may witness to someone who can affect an entire generation in England, or he may contact another person important and wealthy enough to do that. That person would be your spiritual grandchild. Through bringing one person to a realization of the truth, you are making an impact on his whole nation and his whole spirit world. You may think that you are just a trivial individual; never think that. You have within yourself power that can move the world. If you move one person perhaps that person could move many countries or even continents. By the truth you can move that one woman or man.
President Carter's mother can go to the White House, but actually, what right does she have to be there? She can go to the White House because she is the mother of the President. If your spiritual child becomes the leader of some nation, would you, as their spiritual parent, have the right to see them? Physically these things are true, but of even greater significance is the unseen way that you are making an impact on the spirit world. Even if your spiritual child does not become a national leader, do not worry; that person may have a very important position in spirit world through his ancestry.
There are many capable people outside who could be great leaders for God and change this world. By bringing the truth to such a person, everything that person has-education, experience, and money will be to your advantage. Many people outside are very critical of me, saying that I stole their children. Of course I never did that, but I understand how they feel. They gave you food, clothing and education, and then all of a sudden you became my follower and are now dedicated to serving something they do not understand. In a worldly way of speaking, those parents think that their children have been stolen.
You are here to pursue the highest goal and achievement and you know that true values are intangible, but your parents feel that you have the most value. They put their hope in you, and then all of a sudden you started doing things that are crazy according to their standard. You are truly revolutionaries. You each had your individual goals and private ambitions, but when you heard the Divine Principle, an important revolution took place within one week's time that changed the entire direction of your life.
I want you to be proud that you changed yourselves that drastically. At the same time, I want you to honor the power of the truth of God. This means that when you go out to witness, you can ignite the same revolution in others; are you proud of that? Each individual represents the entire world, but each individual can change for the better with great speed. You can see it with your own eyes and be proud of your accomplishment.
You can even compete with God. God has been trying to change men for 6000 years and He could not accomplish too much! But you can change a man within one week. It is an exciting task. How can your mouth stop preaching? How can your legs rest? Exciting things are happening; how can we stop? Think of it, you can change 1000 lives while you are here on earth. If you had 1000 spiritual children you would be the richest parent in the world; you would actually be building your own kingdom. It would take more than three years to visit your children around the world.
You are the most important person to your spiritual child because you gave him the most precious thing under the sun: the hope to become a son or daughter of God. That person is totally indebted to you. He will not chase you away, but will welcome you.
Ten and twenty years from now, a great journey will begin when I tell you to visit your spiritual children all over the world. One kind of person will have many people to visit; another kind will have no spiritual children, and another kind will not even know where their children are. Think of being by yourself with nobody to visit. But the person who visits his spiritual children in all four corners of the world will have limitless joy. Those who have no harvest will stand still in loneliness. Having an education is very important, but even more important is having children. Shall we go out to witness, speaking tirelessly around the clock? When you become a son of God, the words you speak are the words of God. Invest your words and your deeds, your whole body to the maximum. Do not let your body be idle because this is the only opportunity that God has given you. Do not let yourself be wasted.
If you speak only for yourself and live only for yourself, what glory is there? But if you invest your body and your words for the sake of God, then every word you speak flies like a bullet, with purpose and result. Do not speak empty words. Do not complain. Complaints are words that waste your energy.
If you use your body for your own sake, your work will not remain, but if you invest yourself for the sake of others witnessing-fund raising, doing things productively-your deeds will remain. Starting today, analyze how many empty words you have been speaking and how many words you could speak productively for God instead.
Go out witnessing; go out fund raising; go out for whatever your mission may be, but do not do it passively; do it willingly. Gather your motivation first. Without motivation you will fall into a passive pattern, and it will not benefit you. You will not be happy. Your words and deeds must register in the memory of God. I want you to do something that God can remember. Volunteer; be the willing one, the one willing to participate with bubbling enthusiasm. A teacher cannot make you study; you are the one who must study. You must qualify for your own heaven. The way is open and everything is waiting, but unless you take advantage of it, it will not be yours.
Those of you who will commit yourselves to those kinds of words and deeds as sons and daughters of God, please raise your hands. Thank you.
