Belvedere, New York
Translator - Bo Hi Pak
Home church has become the Unification Church trademark and is a very special word for us. Do you feel in your hearts that home church is a necessity? Many believers and religious people in history have talked vaguely about heaven without truly knowing how it could be developed. Jesus announced that the kingdom was dwelling in the midst of the people, but even he could not say that it was here on earth. I would like you clearly to know that the pronouncement of home church as a means of establishing the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth is truly an historic event.
What kind of war have God and Satan been waging? What has been the work of God so far? Truly history has been nothing more than the struggle between good and evil. Where goodness dwells there is always love, and where evil dwells there is jealousy. Goodness brings oneness and unity while evil brings division. Good and evil are indeed 180 degrees opposite. The nature of Satan is one of jealousy and struggle. The battleground of this struggle between good and evil has been man, his home and society. We in the Unification Church are trying to shift this battle from the individual to the family and society.
So far the dispensation of God has been trying to find one triumphant Adam, the victorious Messiah, with whom God could be united. If there had been no fall, God and Adam automatically would have been united into one, but Satan came between God and man, creating a tremendous barrier between them which requires a great effort to overcome.
Satan's number one weapon is self-centered love, which he has been multiplying in men's hearts. He also uses arrogance. In order to liquidate Satan's power and bring God's victory we will first employ the weapon of God-centered love rather than self centered love, and secondly, we will be humble. Throughout history Satan and God have been continuously employing their different weapons, causing history to go up and down as man makes different decisions for one side or the other.
However, today we do not see God and Satan clearly or know where they are. We can't see air, for example, but when we feel the wind blowing we know it exists. Nothing seems to be in this space but when you feel the air brushing against your hand, you know it is there. By the same token, without different actions, the reality of God and Satan cannot be noticed. The battle line is the line between the mind and body. God is approaching the mind because that is His territory, while Satan is coming to the body, his territory. Where they meet is the front line. Unfortunately, the mind is not firm but rather shaky. In a way the eye has two masters, for the body urges it to see carnal sights while the mind urges it to look beyond to higher, purer sights. Both the body and the mind are trying to control the five senses at the same time, each for its own purpose.
We frequently hear people insist that they themselves are good people, not evil. They claim to be living within the territory of goodness as they understand it to be defined. Their definition is always centering upon self, however; therefore, they judge the surroundings centering upon themselves and discern evil according to their own point of view. That is the core problem. The front line battlefield is always within you, shifting from one side to the other, from God's side to Satan's.
Do you know there is a struggle within yourself? How many battles have been waged within yourself between your mind and body? Actually there is constant confrontation 24 hours a day. You sometimes feel that your mind is off-guard and you can quietly do certain things you would normally hide from it. But all of a sudden your mind comes back and says, "What are you doing here? I am watching." Certainly your mind can be your connection to God, but still it has different levels of accomplishment. It can be connected in a stern, straight way, or in a sloppy, flimsy way. Both exist in your mind. Is the God in your mind the strong, disciplined one?
The body also sends up its own campaigner to say, "Why are you doing these foolish things? The important thing is to keep your body strong, healthy and idle. In order to do that you need to have lots of rest, lots of food, lots of money and women." You don't need to be patient with that, but chase it out. Your body is trying to make itself excited by listening to its own propaganda. When the body gets mad or excited about certain things, Satan is standing behind it like a conductor, saying, "Bravo. That's right. You're coming along." But the mind also has a conductor who is leading heavenly music.
In everything you do there are two possible destinations: the heavenly realm, or the satanic realm. You are always up and down and sometimes Satan's side makes headway, then sometimes God's side. Although we are all on this seesaw, are we edging forward or moving backwards? Let's say this line I have drawn is the central line. Our deeds look like a cardiograph on it, going up and down. Above the line is unselfish love and below the line selfish love. If a person registers more lines below the central line than above, that person is bent toward hell. Heaven is above the line. This is like an accurate scale which you cannot escape. Our everyday life is our desperate effort to try and let the heavenly side win. We try to put even a small grain of sand on the heavenly side so that we can accumulate our assets there. This is the battle you go through every day, and if you are defeated here there is no other battle which you can win. This is the first battle you must overcome.
So far religious people have been ignorant of the fact that the battle line is within themselves, thinking it was thousands of miles away. That thinking itself is a sign of Satan within them. Which do you think is correct? Every trivial or substantial action you take every day-eating, sleeping, walking, everything- has two possible consequences and you are making a choice between them. You can fulfill a good or an evil goal in every little action of the day.
What about Belvedere? Is this heaven or hell? What about the dozing person, is he in heaven or hell? What about the person who is awake but not really concentrating on listening? If your neighbor comes here and dozes, should you leave him alone or do something about it? Is it a good deed to give him a shock treatment that will wake him up? Then should the person who is sleeping say, "Leave me alone. This is a good place for me to sleep"? Or "Thank you. I'm sorry:" If most people in the world were pinched, they would say, "Leave me alone." But those are very selfish words and we cannot say them. Instead we say, "Thank you." That pinch is actually removing the satanic arrow from your body so you must be thankful. Look at your neighbor. How wide awake is he? You don't want to sit next to the dozing person because sleep is contagious and spreads quickly.
You thought you would have an easy time here in Belvedere but there is no easy time. This is war time. Sometimes your body says, "I wish I didn't know Divine Principle because it has brought me so much suffering. If I didn't know it, I could sleep much longer in the morning." I am sure there have been times when you haven't been able to get up at 4:30 and stayed in your bed. But then you thought, "This is the time Father is talking, probably about me and those who didn't come." Actually you are tasting three hours of hell in your bed. Isn't that true?
The other day I talked to all the blessed wives and asked them, "Where are you on Sunday morning?" Most of them had a good excuse. "Well, I have a baby to take care of and can't go." But I asked them if they were living in heaven or hell and they said it was really hell. What about you? Do you think it's heaven or hell?
Every breath you take, every look you give is either heavenly or satanic. There are always those two possibilities. Before we can talk about home church we need to win the individual war. Do you think the person who is defeated in the individual battle will be very successful in the home church? The person who is already defeated as an individual is like a mortally wounded soldier. If he gets up and tries to go to home church, he will only become an obstacle there. In order to go to home church, you need to have won your individual battle, to be strong, healthy, disciplined and absolutely determined. That is the only way you can move on to the home church and bring results.
Do you think God is aware that men and women are fighting at this front line within themselves? Is God shaky and unsure of Himself, sometimes thinking He must give up this restoration business because it doesn't bring Him any joy? Do you think God moves straight forward to the goal or moves a step ahead and then retreats? What about you? The kind of man who is always going back and forth because he's not sure of himself and then asks God for help will not even be listened to by God. Who would trust a double agent? Are you a double agent or God's single-minded agent? God knows the double agent cannot be trusted, and if God tried to help him that help would sometimes be used for satanic reasons or power. How can God help such a person?
All of us have come out of the satanic lineage and have a self-centered nature which always tries to evaluate from a self-centered point of view. Because history was sown in that fashion, we must reap in that fashion. Whether or not you love things centered upon yourself is a basic criterion. Do you give love in order to elevate yourself? If you live in that fashion, will you become satanic fruit or heavenly fruit? Have you changed? Even though you don't say it openly, inside you are thinking, "Father, why do you always chastise me and give me a hard time?"
There is some kind of rebellious heart within you, particularly in women. Since I always use American women as material for my sermons, they think, "Father, you always ridicule us." But actually the heavenly heart should always be joyous and happy, even though used as a bad example in my sermon. Why should you be joyous? Because I used you. The Kingdom of God is the kingdom of use. If my goal was to take advantage of you for my private or personal benefit, it would be evil. But even though I seem to be unkind and harsh, my goal is to try to remold American women into the best of all women under the sun. For that reason you should be grateful. Sometimes I am very harsh with you. I know that my God's Day message was very difficult for you to follow, but if you say, "Yes, Father," then you can bring the results.
Life in the Unification Church is always like climbing a steep mountain. Although you are successfully going over the mountain, I am still harsh with you and push you. Then you think, "Father, I'm going. I'm going. Please leave me alone." But I worry that at the very top of the pinnacle you may fool around and fall down. In order to prevent that I want you to jump over and that's why I keep pushing you. If you are going so fast that you fall over the top of the mountain and end up in a ditch on the other side, don't worry because that will be the Kingdom of Heaven.
Let's be realistic. We are climbing a steep mountain. Are you in danger of sometimes miscalculating and falling? Each one of you is in danger of falling Therefore, none of you can say you can let down your guard and that no one can bother you. That is a very dangerous attitude. Unless you are clear about that, all your effort and suffering could be in vain. Look at the monks of the Middle Ages who led austere
lives in the monasteries because they thought that suffering would bring them to heaven. Their suffering was pointless because they didn't know what their real goal was. Suffering is not the goal or the purpose. The purpose is completion of the dispensation. That is why we are suffering, but suffering itself will not automatically bring us into the Kingdom of Heaven.
If you are stern with your body and can conquer its propaganda, you can get to heaven quickly. If you can totally conquer the temptations of your body, your efforts will accumulate and you won't have to suffer much. Do you understand that even smiling can have a good or evil purpose?
Everyone should know now that there are always two possibilities. That means we all know the truth and are eligible for the Kingdom of Heaven. At the same time, since we all know the truth, we are eligible for hell, too. Suppose you end up in hell and look up and say, "God, why did You send me here?" Can you complain and say you got there without knowing why? Let's say you end up in the Kingdom of Heaven. Can you boast, "I am the one who made it"? The balance of power within your own way of life will automatically determine your destiny in heaven or hell. There won't be any judge who dispatches you to hell because the final showdown will already have been made within yourself.
Each one of you is like a balloon. Some balloons fly high because they have light air, while others fly so low they are in danger of bumping into houses. There are some Unification Church members who are actually outside agents disguised as devout members. Their motivation is evil because its aim is to destroy this movement. We welcome that kind of person, however, because by coming here and hearing these words, his conscience can be moved and he will think, "How miserable I am. Why do I have to come here and pick on these people who are trying their absolute best to uplift themselves and their society?"
We have had many extraordinary experiences in the past. One time a communist, by order of his boss, tried to infiltrate our Church to find some weakness. After listening to me many times he wrote a letter, saying, "I'm sorry. I came here by order of my communist boss to find your faults and destroy you, but after listening to your sermons my conscience started bothering me. Forgive me. I cannot listen to you any more for it brings me suffering. I must go. What the communists say about the Unification Church is completely opposite what you are. You are great people. " This communist enemy testified to our greatness.
What about you? Have you already made up your mind to be 100% on the heavenly side or are you still trying to make a decision? Suppose a blessing comes and you are matched. Would you like to have the best person or the worst person as your spouse? Suppose you are the elite of the Unification Church and so is your spouse. Then there is nothing special there. But if you are a brilliant person married to someone who is not so brilliant, imagine how you can make that person absolutely happy and uplifted. You can give double salvation to that person. Then which will God see as the most dramatic, being married to the superior or the inferior person?
Have you women thought that you are inadequate to be anyone's wife, regardless of whether he is a good or bad man? That's the humble attitude. The opposite attitude is, "Where is the best man? I'm the best woman and deserve the best man." Which one is closer to heaven and which one is closer to hell? Are you closer to heaven? Here again the biblical words apply, "He who seeks his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for my sake will gain it." The woman who thinks she is qualified to have the best husband will end up with a very poor husband. The humble person who feels she is not worthy of any man will end up with the best husband. If you think in that way, God will make you seem like a shining princess to men.
I myself never asked for the most polished, well-educated candidate for my bride. I just asked for God's will to be done so that I could lift one woman up into heaven. "Father, if Your will is to give me the worst bride, I will accept it." I was looking for the worst possibility and God gave me the best possibility.
American women think choosing a mate is their business and they don't want anyone to bother them. You are different now, but weren't you like that before joining the Church? Don't you sometimes wonder why it isn't best for you to choose your own mates, why you can't look at this man and that one and evaluate which is best? Think how wonderful it is for God to become involved in your wedding and for it to become a world affair rather than just your own private wedding. What a privilege it is that your wedding is for the sake of the universe. Would you prefer a wedding that God can rejoice in and True Parents can participate in, or one small wedding that boxes you into hell even as you are trying to be happy?
If scholars wanted to study about weddings, would they have more material from outside or from inside the Unification Church? Marriage is so profound and deep in the Unification Church that no scholar can really get down to the bottom and perceive it completely. We elevate ourselves in a quite mysterious way through marriage. When you study for a Ph.D. you don't study many different areas but delve deeply into just one area. In the Unification Church we delve so deeply into marriage, much deeper than for a Ph.D., that no one from outside can fathom it. Unless someone studied the Unification Church method he would not really know anything about marriage. Also, religious scholars who haven't studied the Unification Church haven't studied religion at all. Scholars who want to study man and haven't studied me can't really know man fully. Without delving deeply into the Unification Church and knowing the significance of good and evil in our way of life, no one can really know Moonies.
You must always remember that you yourself are the problem and the front line, and therefore can never be caught off guard. You don't want God to fail within you. When you are out working and become very hungry, your stomach says, "I am very hungry. Give me food or I will stop." Then say to your stomach, "Be silent Satan. I will continue." Have you ever noticed that Satan is always coming through your body? Sometimes you have to work very late at night and when it's time to get up in the morning your body says, "Leave me alone. I need two more hours." At that moment have you ever thought, "Satan, I'm not going to succumb to you"? When you have to walk a long distance and your legs ,complain, do you say, "You, Satan, be quiet. I'm not going to be defeated by you. Satan, get out of my two legs." Invite the power of God into your legs. People may think you are crazy, but who cares? The important thing is for you God. Then God will come down and give you energy so you can begin walking again.
Women are exposed to many temptations every day. You would like some handbag or scarf and be able to walk down Fifth Avenue showing yourself off, wouldn't you? You want to woo men with perfume. The Moonie girl's smell is awful but that is really the heavenly perfume. For some heavenly man that smell will be the number one perfume. God purposely made the heavenly man's nose different so that he can detect the heavenly smell of the Moonie girl.
The normal nose is placed in the middle of your face going straight down, but suppose someone has a nose that is all crooked. The Bible says that what comes out of the mouth defiles a man. Suppose if every time someone said something wicked his face became deformed or his nose and eyes became crooked. Do you think his mind would be happy to see his face? Your mind wants to see your five senses set straight in the right place. When the mind and body are united together and not following any wicked desires, that person is a godly individual. Each body is somewhat like a camera which has to be focused between the mind and body. Are you focusing every day? If you have complete focus between mind and body with a clear-cut image, then you can even see God. There is nothing you cannot perceive through that lens.
According to Divine Principle, we have two minds, one spiritual and one physical. One represents the desire of the spirit and the other the desire of the body. Our job is to focus the two minds. If you were really focused, I wouldn't have to deliver a sermon this morning because there would be nothing you could not see or perceive. If you focus on me, you will automatically know what I am thinking and want to tell you.
Throughout history religion has been trying to chastise the body because that is Satan's territory. The approach of Satan is always made through the body and you must block it. Are you a good or an evil person? Are you sometimes good and sometimes evil, or always good or always evil? Even after being in the Unification Church you are still in and out of evil, so you can imagine how God has had to deal with impossible situations. How difficult it is for God to do His job and how much easier for Satan to walk in. The door is always open for him. That's why Satan always says, "God, these are my children." No matter how hard God tries, man is always vulnerable to Satan. If your mind goes two ways, does it totally belong to God or have two masters? How can you be blessed when you have two minds and two masters? If you are a mixture of good and evil, what will your children be like? It's a very serious problem.
Do you think I have gone through that battle? I have indeed gone through that battle and won. Therefore, my motto has been that before you desire universal dominion, you must conquer yourself. Sometimes it takes a long time to overcome just one word spoken wrongly. If your entire life tends in that direction, how difficult it is to solve everything. While you are still in your flesh here on earth you can have hope to resolve the situation, but as soon as your spirit and body separate there is no way to resolve it. The mind, which has been the victim of the body, will end up in hell as the eternal object of Satan. If you knew the consequences, you would be cruel to your body, yet still it would not be enough because your body is your worst enemy.
The body has three major carnal desires: hunger, sleep and sex. Do you have these three cravings? Religious life always emphasizes overcoming these three by denying them to the body. We discipline ourselves by fasting and overnight prayer and by overcoming desire. No matter what kind of woman comes and tries to tempt you, don't respond but tell Satan to get away from you. There are always three satans ready to encroach on your body. What can you do? The person who can say, "I have disciplined myself, Father. I can control hunger and sleep and sexual desire" is ready to march to home church. If not, you cannot win the battle because you don't have a weapon with which to fight.
The 360 homes you are going to visit are full of temptations. You may feel, "They are eating good meals while I am hungry so why should I go to serve them? They are better off than me. Why do I always have to go out so early in the morning and come back so late?" There are all kinds of men and women trying to tempt you. You are out there facing a poisonous atmosphere every day. Why do you go on like that, suppressing your desire? Because you want to win the victory of true love. "I will persevere over hunger and do without sleep because of the victory of true love. I will do away with sexual desires because of the victory of true love."
When you go out thinking that you will ultimately receive love, you will not win the battle. But when you go to give love unconditionally, you can overcome. Why? Because the person trying to give love possesses the attitude of God. All this time God has been trying to give love. As soon as you try to love people, the energy of God automatically comes to you, making you a powerful individual. Because there is tremendous energy flowing to you from God, you won't even notice that night is passing. As the transmitter of God's love you won't feel tired the entire night.
That's the path I walked from 1953 to 1960. They were seven sleepless years. I intensely loved people, forgetting all about eating. I talked all day, so intensely that I thought evening was morning. There was no concept of day or night in my mind. I only knew the energy of love and of giving, so the entire spirit world came down and assisted me. That is real power and you can live that way.
The first battleground is your body. Satan's bullet always comes through your five senses. Between the ages of twenty and thirty, which is your age, if I dressed to go out many women would follow me. But I always moved in the opposite direction. l always went to the second-hand stores for my suits and appeared very humble, buying surplus military clothes which had become worn-out and shiny. I always wore that kind of brownish jacket and trousers. When there was an occasion to mingle with people I would stand in the corner, even though I knew I could easily stand out front. That was the period in which I was waging war on my body, and once you declare war there is no substitute for victory. You've got to win. Without victory you cannot eat or sleep or do anything.
A very good analogy can be made with a patient in a hospital bed. Every morning the doctor comes and measures his blood pressure, pulse and temperature, keeping a record. His temperature goes up and down. You are like patients in a hospital between heaven and Satan. There is a check-up every morning to see whether your temperature is up on Satan's side or down on God's side. Draw a picture of yourself and check every day to see if the different parts of your body passed the heavenly standard or succumbed to Satan's temptations. Did your eyes pass the heavenly test? When you were passing by a good restaurant did your nose take your body in there instead of witnessing? Give yourself a check-up every day. Evaluate your eyes, nose, mouth, ears, etc. Keep that kind of diary 365 days. If your record is not good, you must continue that kind of check-up even for ten years until you have a perfect score. If your eyes fail you for ten years, it's better to remove them and throw them away. Jesus said that if a certain part of your body offends you, it's far better to do without that portion of your body.
This year let's give the check-up to ourselves and make ourselves winners. Do not relax and think that just because you are reading or studying the Divine Principle book every day everything is fine. You still need a check-up because there are still two possibilities, even in reading or lecturing Divine Principle. It's very serious.
In the confrontation between good and evil within yourself are you confident to repel Satan? Is it an easy or difficult task? It's almost as difficult as dying. Therefore, unless you really make up your mind to die for victory, you will not win. Unless you commit your life to this struggle, you cannot win. We must win on the first battleground; then we can move onto the second battleground: home church.
Our weapon to win this battle is not military; it is true love. If you are filled with the energy of giving true love, no satanic weapon can penetrate you. We can go out and fire the automatic rifle of love. You know that Satan is always going to be firing at you so the best thing is to ignore him completely.
People are always trying to test you. You can become angry about something and lose your good heart and good mind so Satan always tries to anger you and make you complain. These two are the best signs of Satan's victory. In order to win the heavenly way, you have to go in the opposite way. It is our good fortune and asset to be in the position of being opposed and persecuted. We are always in a position to be scrutinized and people look at us from two different directions. However small a condition we violate, they will try to rip it apart and destroy us. That situation keeps us always alert. Is it good or bad? If you are alert enough not to be exploited by that situation then Satan is blocked and has no way to enter. We always keep our guard up so that Satan can't come in.
We can elevate ourselves to different stages and attain our own perfection. Number one, we must not be arrogant; we must be humble. When you are trying to bring yourself forward, do it with love, for only with love can you speak with authority and say, "Do as I do and love as much as I love." You can say that if you are an example of love. If you don't do anything for your people, how can you claim it? Set your standard so high that you don't have to tell other people what to do; they will automatically be ashamed to do certain things because of you. For example, you won't have to tell people not to smoke. They just won't do it in front of you. If they are fighting among themselves and a loving Moonie comes along, all you'll have to do is look at them and their fighting spirit will be all gone. They'll be ashamed.
We must set the highest example. The battle between the mind and the body is a severe one. If your individual battle within yourself is so difficult, how much more difficult do you think the battle will be within your home church? Do not take it lightly. The road to perfection is very difficult. The Bible always teaches that dying is much easier than living. Giving of yourself unto death will bring your own perfection, your tribal perfection, and national perfection. Actually that is the easiest way to do it, but God did not give you an easy way out. You have to earn every bit of it. The course is so difficult that it took God millions of years to do. If there were an easy way, God would have taken it a long time ago. Instead, the battle is still being severely waged and the front line is right within yourself. For three years don't remove your jacket. That kind of spirit is absolutely needed. If you relax just a little bit, you don't know when Satan will creep in. If your guard is down even the slightest degree, Satan will penetrate.
When I began my ministry, I needed eight hours of prayer in order to work for eight hours. Otherwise, there was no balance and the work was not produced. The American way of prayer is very easy. You sit comfortably on a chair, but in the Oriental way you are on your knees with your head down for hours and hours. Would you like to pray in this way for eight hours, or invest that time in working for home church? If you took the route of prayer, it would be far more difficult. Prayer is not easy.
Today the topic is home church and the war of love. We are becoming the weapons of love, the cannon of love, shooting love all the time. What caliber weapon would you like to become, the pistol of love, machine gun of love, cannon of love or atomic bomb of love? You're greedy, aren't you? Do you know how the energy for an atomic bomb is activated? By chain reaction. One atom splits two other atoms, which split four other atoms, which split eight more atoms. These splitting atoms create incredible energy. That is the theory of home church chain reaction.
The physical world has come to possess atomic weapons, so in the spirit world God must have the atomic bomb of love. The secular atomic bomb can bring nuclear disaster and wipe out mankind; man now has the capability of destroying himself. What about the atomic bomb of love? Would it destroy or bring peace, happiness and joy? Once you explode the atomic bomb of love it becomes the panacea for the problems of the world, and there is nothing under the sun which cannot be solved. Satan himself will vanish, for the one thing that will be destroyed is satanic power.
You are going to the home church as one atom of love, saying to the people, "Become like me." You cause other atoms to split other atoms, which in turn split more atoms. Our movement is here just to duplicate ourselves and multiply. We will create a chain reaction throughout the world and then the world will be converted by the atomic bomb of love.
There have been many wars in history and their purpose has been deprivation, with men wanting to confiscate materials and territory from other men. Previously wars have been fought to win material, but the communist war is to win people, land and money. The ultimate war God is going to wage, however, is the war of love. People will fight to get love and to give love. The more intense you become in the battle of love the better it will be. In other wars the more intense the soldiers became. the more destruction there was, but the more you distribute the love of God, the more the peace, energy and unity that people desire will come. Would you become an atomic bomb or an atomic love bomb?
You have only one bomb, so when it explodes where can you get more? Home church is the battleground where you are going to explode your love. Where can you get more supplies for your atomic bomb? God is the reservoir. All you have to do is tell God you are firing your atomic bomb and He will supply you with more. God's supply depot is a 24 hour operation. You can bring a request and God will always say yes because His supply never runs out. If you fire the atomic bombs of love as fast as a machine gun, the supplies from God's depot will pour down like water.
When you are firing the atomic bomb of love, would you think you are destroying people or that you are giving resurrection? Giving love creates such a joyful atmosphere. The more you tire the love of God, the more you as the gunner will become excited and elated. What kind of love would you fire? What kind of love is God's love? True love. What is true love? Selfless love. Only selfless love can exterminate Satan. You are young people and if you only try to give love to young people then you are being self-centered. But if you give love to old people, children, black people, suffering and poor people, that is heavenly love. When you are trying to love more than God loves and more than I love, then you can become a saint. If you love home church more than your own father and mother, more than True Parents or God, do you think God will be jealous and say, "Don't do home church. Love me instead"? Will I say, "Don't do home church. Just love me and pay 100% attention to me"? Will your husband say, "You are my wife. Your first duty is to love me before you love home church"? How about the wife who says, "You must take care of me. I need you"?
Home church is the basis for loving everything, even your wife and husband. Think that in going to your home church you are going to your wife's or your husband's home. You must go to that place and love them, and find your husband, your wife and your parents there. Don't stand and try to let them come to love you but go out and love them.
Everyone will be shot by the gun of love. In a way 360 homes will be demolished, but not in a destructive sense. The only one who will lose in that battle is Satan. God will be triumphant, as will True Parents, you and all your home church people. If you win the battle of love in your home church you will be as God to those people. Because God is invisible, you will be His representative. 1 would like to hear home church people say that when you enter their house God enters in you. "Even Jesus could not be better than this Moonie. Not even Reverend Moon could be better!"
You know what kind of criteria you must establish. You must love the home church more than eating or sleeping. You must love your home church more than loving yourself, your parents or husband. With all your heart and soul and mind love your home church. You are going out there with the machine gun of God's love and with its barrage you are firing at 360 homes every day. Would you be a winner then?
When you become victorious, how would you become? When you have become completely victorious, your 360 homes will become your home. 360 people will say, "You have been hungry for so long. Please come to our house for supper. You have lost much sleep. This is your bed. Please rest." Everyone will say, "Let me do your job for you. Take care and rest easy during the day and let me go out day and night and work." If people really see God in you, would they say that?
Love God more than anything else. God is the root and home church is the fruit and harvest of His love. When you come to the throne of God, can you proudly say, "God, I loved my tribe and the world representing You, and now I have come back to You"?
Whether or not you can make your heaven depends on this one war. With the five senses of your body you are firing out this love. Will intensity in this battle bring us better results or poorer results? Right now people may not welcome you, thinking, "Oh, that Moonie is always coming, sometimes even twice in the same day." But the time will come when they will say, "Please do more; teach us more; discipline us." 360 home keys will be jingling in your pocket as you walk. The time will come when people will let you come in any time of the day or night. You must win that much of a reputation. If you are trusted to that degree there is automatically hope for building the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, for trust is the foundation for building the Kingdom of Heaven.
The motto for this year is Home Church and the Completion of the Kingdom of Heaven. As young men and women, it's very good for you to get experience on the battleground. Would you go to the battleground to take possession of material, territory or people, or for the war of love? It's an exciting mission and the best battleground you can find. The time will come when the 360 homes will volunteer their sons and daughters, competing against each other to have their children accepted first. At the end of the third seven-year course everyone will be blessed. In other words, you will literally find your bride and husband in the home church. Unless you are welcomed in your home church you can have no wedding after the third seven-year course is over. I don't have the time to explain everything to you today, but that is the Principle.
Is home church an exciting world? Why? Because each of you is going to be a gunner for the atomic bomb of love. Are you holding that atomic bomb of love? Those who have it, raise your hands please. How do I know you have that love? Show me where it is. The only way you can show that you possess that atomic bomb of love is by the success of home church.
When you are literally adored by your home church people, will your own parents come and say, "You didn't love me at all. How can you love all these people? You will get nothing out of it" ? Or will they say, "My son, you are great. I didn't know you were such a saint." Husband and wife will see each other respected as saints by their home church people and be proud of each other. History will tell that at one time we had the greatest of all young people here in America who brought the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. People all over the world will be proud.
Success hinges upon this one project-home church. By succeeding here, you have already loved God and the world. You are trying to become the atomic bomb of love, pouring love out in your home church area so much that you totally forget yourself. When you hear the word home church you will remember that you suffered for it, but also that this is where you fulfilled and won your own victory. This is the place of hosannahs. Since you suffered, the shining glory will be more valuable for you. No one can take away that love because you earned every bit of it through your suffering.
Would you like to crave home church more than you crave food when you are hungry? Is your intensity about your home church greater than toward your first love? All men want to have a destiny with God, but I want you to know that God already set the appointment to meet you in home church. God is waiting for you in your home church area. Jesus is there and so is the Kingdom of Heaven. Everything you have been craving is there. I am out there. Don't come here to meet me, but go to home church.
How many Sundays are there in 1979? Ever since God's Day I have been talking about nothing but home church. Have you been intoxicated and motivated, doing nothing but marching forward? When you wage the war of love, do not become a defeated person but become a triumphant person. When you become a victorious flag bearer of love, following behind will be Jesus, True Parents, God and mankind. This is not theory but the Divine Principle. It can be done and it will be done. Shall we do it? Raise your hands if you can do it. Let us pray.
