Belvedere
Translator - Sang Kil Han
It is generally understood that religious people must follow a difficult way of life. By the same token we can say that the highest religion should be the one that espouses the most difficult way of life. One of the highest virtues in religion has been celibacy, or remaining alone and not marrying.
One of the most difficult things for people to do is to abstain from food-to refrain from eating even though hungry. When a person is about to starve, he becomes more serious than he has been in his entire life. Americans are the least qualified in that respect for they never had any opportunity to go hungry and to learn how serious a matter food is. Nevertheless, you can learn from others' experiences that the most difficult thing to endure in human life is starvation.
Perhaps the second most difficult thing for a person to endure is lack of sleep. When a man really needs sleep, he is almost willing to trade everything he has, including his dignity, in order to sleep. When you are desperately sleepy, you normally don't care whether a king is sitting beside you; you simply want to fall asleep. Thus, abstaining from sleep is one of the most difficult things in human life. It's common sense that during the daytime people work, and during the night they sleep. So which is more important: work or sleep? One could say that sleep is more important than work. If you don't sleep and then try to engage in serious work, the work may not be so serious anymore; you just melt into sleeping. The third most important and most serious thing for a person is, of course, sexual love.
No matter how beautiful a young woman may be, the fact that she is beautiful will not support her throughout her life. That beautiful woman must go in search of a man in order to become part of a couple. Is there any beautiful woman who would say "Since I'm so beautiful, I don't need any handsome man; I already have both shares of beauty"? Can any beautiful woman live happily just looking at herself in the mirror? All that makeup she puts on and the trouble she has to go through isn't for herself; she has a certain purpose in mind, a subject, for whom she seeks.
Let's consider a woman and a man who have lived their lives in a Buddhist monastery, never marrying. Such people stay single and die single, dedicating themselves totally to God. When they walk down the street and see a handsome man or a very beautiful woman walking by, don't you think they notice? What would be your guess: do celibate people notice the opposite sex or do you think their vital organs become so neutral they are almost dead? How can you answer so confidently? Have you been in that situation? In any event, this is the third most difficult or serious situation a person can face.
One thing is for sure: the highest religions have maintained that people must control their desires: the desire to eat, to sleep and to experience sexual love. There is no question about that. The Bible consistently teaches the followers of Christ about this. But outside the realm of religion, of course, there is no higher god than one's own needs. When people are hungry, for example, they can do almost anything to alleviate their hunger.
When the Bible teaches us that we should pray without ceasing, does that mean to go ahead and sleep when you feel like sleeping and pray when you feel like it? What the Bible suggests is that you should not even sleep sometimes but continue praying. How can we say that we should sleep eight hours and work eight hours and squeeze in a few moments of prayer? We gather that what the Bible told us, to pray without ceasing, means we must be able to pray even without sleeping.
When two people are in love, do they want to stay with each other for 24 hours a day, or do they just want to see each other for a few hours and the rest of the time live independently? Can you name someone who sleeps least in the entire world? That is right, Heavenly Father. God is the king of sleeplessness, the one who does not sleep at all. Since God does not sleep at all during 24 hours, wouldn't He pay attention to the lovers who want to be awake together for 24 hours? You may say that God would also love those people who sleep as much as He loves those people who do not sleep. But we can conclude that God would love the person more with whom He can be together more, the one who doesn't sleep much and has more time awake with Him. God would be with him all the time.
Does God eat like we do or not? Do you think God has a mouth? How many of you ever thought about that? Well, we know that we resemble God and we are made in His image, so whatever we have, God has something similar. Thus we have to conclude that God needs food, too. Not three meals like we do, but He also would like to eat with those He loves. When they eat, God would like to eat, too.
We can imagine a man coming home, say from the Vietnam War. He has been constantly in danger of death but has finally returned home. His wife will be waiting to welcome him. Do you think they will hug and kiss when he gets off the plane and then that will be all the welcome he receives? No, his wife would probably prepare everything she can: she would prepare food, a nice warm bed for him to rest in and all sorts of things to make him happy. That is how she would welcome him, wouldn't she? And she would prepare some special food; it might not be so expensive, but she would put her whole heart into it and feed it herself to her husband with her spoon. That is the food of love. Isn't that so? You would like to do that, wouldn't you? By the same token, does a beautiful woman wear beautiful clothes for her own sake, or for no reason at all? No, she likes to wear clothing so that she will be seen and appreciated by her loved ones and her husband. That is the real purpose of beautiful clothing and a beautiful self.
Imagine God visiting the one whom He loves. What kind of clothing or appearance would God like to have? His best, yes. He would want to wear the best clothing that He could find. When people saw Him walking, everyone would exclaim, "It's wonderful!" It is very logical that for a special situation, one makes the most special preparation.
We can understand that God is not so different from us. He is the same in fact: whatever we like to do, God would like to do in a more perfect way. What about God's eyes? Do you think His eyes also blink like ours? Well, it is not likely that there are dust or vapors in Heaven like on Earth which make it necessary for us to blink. Would God also blink up there? Would it be necessary? Actually, it is, because the world of nature expands and contracts; this is a natural rhythm. To look at the one you love with your eyes wide open and never even blink is actually less intense than to look at him, then close your eyes a moment, and then open them wide and behold him again. Then you close your eyes again and then look at him again. That is more intense that gazing with eyes wide open, never blinking. If we do that, we can also conclude that God probably does that, too.
If you ask an average believer about God's appearance, he will yell back at you: "What do you mean, what does God look like?" And that is the end of your answer. Or if he is obliged to say something about God, it would be very ambiguous. But when the average Unification Church member is asked the same question, without hesitation he says: "God is more or less like myself. Very much like myself, in fact" How close we are to God!
Let's get back to the original topic of the sermon this morning: Who pays the indemnity of restoration? When someone asks, "What is the Unification Church?" then one answer would be, "It is the church that restores through indemnity" Don't all religions pay indemnity? Of course, they have achieved some restoration by paying indemnity just as we do, but they have not understood what they were doing. Again, for all other religions or churches except the Unification Church, the purpose of believing in God and paying indemnity, working hard and following God's commandments and so forth, was simply so that a person could go to Heaven.
The average person doesn't think so much about others; he certainly doesn't care about the entire country going to Heaven. Someone else could have a problem, but "Me, myself, going to Heaven" is his purpose. But then ask this question of Unification Church members: "Are you going to Heaven all by yourself?" They will instantly say, "No. There is no such way of going to God" You can even ask God this question: "Is the meaning of salvation simply the individual being saved and going to Heaven?" God will say, "Absolutely not. The salvation of the family is more important than an individual. When the family is saved, the individual is included"
This is the very point where Americans must change because they consider the welfare of the individual above everything else. No matter how hard they try, they simply cannot get out of this one area of confusion. They say, "Well, I'm an individual; if I don't exist, nothing exists" Actually, everything exists, but they do not think so. American society is hung up on the individual.
But in God's eyes, it is totally different. It is simple and clear: God will sacrifice the individual if He must to save the higher levels, such as family and country. We can understand from the common sense point of view that God would like to save all ten members of a family if He can; there's no question about that. But if He had to sacrifice one out of the ten so that He could save all ten, He would do it.
Where there is more sacrifice there is more love of God. This is a golden rule which you can apply for the rest of your life in almost all situations. Many times you are in a quandary and you don't know how to decide something. Suppose you observe two persons fighting with each other. You cannot take both sides at the same time because they are going in opposite directions. Which side should you take? If you take the side of the most sacrificial person as opposed to the self-promoting person you can never go wrong. This rule can apply to the most ordinary as well as the highest level situations. For instance, in the presidential election you have to determine which side has the most sacrificial elements.
This very subject is the crux of the Bible's teaching. Jesus told people, "Those who are willing to die for my sake will live" We can know in whom God dwells; the one who wants to sacrifice himself and offer himself so that other people can live is the person in whom God dwells.
We saw this in Jesus. Even though the Roman soldiers pierced him with a spear, he asked God's forgiveness for them. From that moment on, a new realm began, a new world that had never existed before in history. Jesus Christ began that new world. Before Jesus' time the rule was an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. Whatever one's enemy had done, one always tried to retaliate and get even. People thought that was the best rule and the law. But Jesus in his crucifixion set a totally new standard. Even though he was attacked and killed, he asked for God's blessing for all people. Even though that was just a single event, it was like the spring of life. The world God desires, for the first time in history, began to emerge. From there on, the realm of God was to become bigger and bigger, until today.
Two thousand years ago, there must have been a lot of Christians who were killed and eaten by lions. But while they were dying, many of them asked God's forgiveness for their persecutors. For four hundred years after Jesus' crucifixion, following him meant martyrdom for many people. There were two kinds of people even among the martyrs. One kind would say, "Oh, God, please retaliate against them. Because of what they did, please punish them" The other kind of martyr would pray to God for forgiveness: "Forgive them, and let them prosper just as much as we want to prosper"
We can compare these two kinds of martyrs. Two persons can go over the same threshold of death with one asking for forgiveness and the other asking for retaliation from God. The first one will go beyond the realm of Rome and be elevated to the world of God, whereas the other simply cannot get out of the fetters of Rome. In other words, he will stay somewhere below that realm, not above it. So we must learn a lesson here. Even though two people may do the same thing, one can be elevated to heaven while the other cannot, according to the difference in their motivation. Is this point clear to you?
This is why the Bible teaches us a seemingly contradictory way. How contradictory it seems to common sense to say that those who want to die will live, and those who want to live will die! Why does it seem so complicated? It is because we are seeking some other world which we have not seen before.
From this viewpoint, we can see that for the sake of the family the individual must sacrifice, and the family may sacrifice so that the larger clan may live forever and be prosperous. In the same fashion the clan should be willing to sacrifice for the sake of the society and the country. Is there anything wrong with this process? According to this principle, a great country should sacrifice for the sake of the world. There cannot be any exception to this principle.
Suppose there are two politicians with two different viewpoints about the well-being of America. For instance, one may say, "America is so great. We have to preserve America, no matter what, before the world can be taken into account" But the other may say, "This is not so. America may be great, but to God it is just one more country. Therefore, for the sake of the world, America must take a sacrificial position" If these two politicians oppose each other in this way, one person's election will hold God's love; the other can cause God to leave this country. It is a very serious matter. Now we know the answer of whom to support.
To liberate the entire spirit world and the cosmos, all people in the world should sacrifice. We can elevate this even further and say that for the sake of the liberation of God, all of spirit world as well as the physical world should sacrifice. Isn't it logical? Do you have any different opinion? As far as Reverend Moon is concerned, this is the ultimate philosophy or rule that I go by. Can someone say confidently, "Reverend Moon, you are wrong. You made an error in this respect"?
I have a question to ask you Japanese sisters. Before you came to America from Japan, did you plan to sacrifice yourself for the sake of this country; or did you leave your country so that you could become happier or live a more glorious life here in America? Have you lived here five years, ten years, or whatever, to be Americanized? Or have you been "Japanizing" America? Well, you came here to Japanize, not by doing things the "Japanese way,' but because Japanese are better examples at sacrificing than Americans. There is no question about that. These Japanese sisters came for the establishment of Heavenly Father's tradition and for no other reason.
Perhaps the American people will say, "Father, why should the Japanese have to sacrifice so much?" When Japanese sisters sacrifice themselves, they are automatically on the better side, the side of goodness. Those in responsible positions are not living a private life. They are more public, so they cannot eat whenever they please; nor can they sleep or love whenever they please. You Americans tell me if the law I go by is wrong or right. It is not a relative matter. You cannot say, "Oh, Father, of course, that depends" There is no such a thing as "depends" in regard to the law.
When someone shows the most righteous example and tells America it must go a certain direction but Americans go against him, the Americans will be the ones to diminish. In the sight of God, it doesn't matter how strong they may be now. That is an iron rule and law. This law of God never bends. I have been following that same law and rule, and I will continue forever until the will of God is done. I am determined to dedicate my own family, my own people, my own church, my own property, and everything for the sake of America and for Russia, too.
As long as this law is observed and we stand strongly on God's side, then no matter how strong our opposition, that opposition cannot defeat us no matter how few we are. We will prosper and we will be protected, whereas the larger opposition will perish. No matter how well Soviet Russia may arm itself and go against the country centering on these ideas, namely America, still Russia will be the one to be washed out, not America. God will raise the one and He will destroy the other. It depends on Him, and how He will act depends on what law we abide by.
My own life is a vivid example. My entire family, as well as the neighbors, virtually gave up on me, saying, "He will cause great problems, not only for himself but for the entire Moon family" They said that very forthrightly. Then the society and the country said, "Why does Reverend Moon go to America and do and say such things? This will be a great discredit to Korea" Virtually all Korean people gave up on me because they did not understand.
America has done the same. Although I came here and worked and sacrificed, this country was cursing me, saying, "I wish Reverend Moon would go back home" Or they say things like "Moon Mafia" or "Khomeini of this country" All these things Americans have said to Reverend Moon.
Even you, now, say to me, "Oh, Father, must you do things this way?" Some say, "Father, there is such a thing as the American Way. Why don't you do things that way, more rationally?" Lots of people have such thoughts. American culture has never before witnessed any person, let alone from the Orient, who has stayed here for five, even ten years and never became Americanized. They have never seen one instance! When people saw this happening, they thought they would just have to apply some pressure. But this did not happen because they cannot subjugate God or His principle.
You come here for Sunday Service and sit on the cold floor for hours. In other churches you could meet at ten o'clock in the morning and sit in comfortable pews in a warm room. The pastor shakes hands with everyone when they come and says nice things when they go. He never speaks more than forty minutes because it is virtually a violation of human rights. That is Americanizing. What is the difference between Americanizing and Moonizing? Moonizing is to transfer oneself to God, so it is not just Moonizing. We are talking about "Godizing"
My name is becoming more and more respectable now. Once Reverend Moon's name is resurrected, the free world will be resurrected. Do you see that these things are taking place? What is the reverse of resurrecting? It is declining, or dying. Those who at one time looked down on, or even despised my name, are now looking up at Reverend Moon. In this principle and respect, I am very brave and outspoken. I do not hide anything; I am never wishy-washy. When the American government is wrong, we will tell them so. Without this, America could never survive. They cannot figure out this strange person who has emerged.
I have consistently followed this law and this direction from the lowest to the highest level of God's dispensation. Do you think I have prospered and God's realm has prospered because of my allegiance to this principle? Even though many times it seemed that my demise was imminent, this was not so. But those people whose prosperity was imminent are the ones who went down. This is all because of God and His principle. Likewise, you have become committed to God's dispensation. There is no way we can shake ourselves loose, right? We have taken God's bait, in other words.
In the name of God and for the sake of America and the world, I am pushing you to dedicate your lives. How does that sound? Do you want to dedicate your lives? Why? How can you be so confident? It is because we know we can liberate heaven and earth, even God Himself.
There has never been an individual or a group which abided by this completely new law in the long history of mankind. Now there is a person and group determined to go this seemingly impossible course. When God looks down on us, will He have to support us or not? I am taking the most beautiful American women and sending them to the remotest, most uncultivated African countries. We may be going through a miserable situation, yet we have the brightest hope for the future, don't we? Which one would you choose: the pleasant reality today, or the hope for the future? It may be easy to say, "Hope,' but that literally means we have to go through a miserable situation in the present.
I received a report a few days ago that somewhere, in a confidential place, we gathered all the missionaries who are working behind the Iron Curtain. They are your own brothers and sisters; their greatest desire was to see True Parents even for one time, and to set foot in Korea even one time before they die. How about you? You see True Parents almost every Sunday if you choose to. And if you fund raise for less than a week, you can afford to go to Korea or anywhere in the world and no one will stop you from traveling. By that standard are you happy or miserable? The happiest.
So we clearly see our responsibility to liberate those whom I have just described. We may do all we can, but it is not we who will actually liberate them; it is America who must do that. Therefore, we have to work for the sake of America. This is our responsibility. This great country, as we know, is not perishing because of a lack of PhDs or a shortage of schools or titles or power or money. It is basically because of individualism that this country is going through great turmoil. People with a higher ideal are lacking in this country. Americans must begin to take the sacrificial way before they can expect love to come to them.
Until now, Americans have received the wrong education. American education has taught you to defend your rights and to seek to be loved by others. But that is the wrong sequence. First we must sacrifice, then we want to defend our rights and be loved by others. No matter how proud Americans may be about their customs, in front of God they are not so meaningful. We must clearly know this point. Many of you have been thinking: "Father is too heavy, too serious. This is not part of America" You have been swaying here and swaying there, but this is the wrong way. There is nothing too heavy, too serious: this is reality. You must cast out all doubts and uncertainty.
Who must do the restoration by indemnity? Yes, Moonies must bear the responsibility of paying indemnity for restoring the world. Among so many Moonies, who must do it first? Somebody in the Unification Church must be the first. There is me, but then who must do it before me? God. You must know clearly that the restoration by indemnity starts from God. The term "indemnity" began from God. Where does tradition come from, in the restoration by indemnity? It also comes from God.
God would not even dream about restoration by indemnity if it had not been for the fall. If the fall had not taken place, all indemnity would be simply out of the question. God never intended it. It is for the sake of mankind and because of mankind that indemnity became necessary. Then who builds and starts this tradition? Tradition begins from God; it is established by God Himself. God has been working according to different cultures and has inspired different ways of practicing religion. Along with each religion came its own way of paying indemnity. God, along with religious people throughout history, has been paving the road of indemnity.
Among all these religions, the Jewish faith, the Christian faith and now the Unification faith are in the mainstream. The qualifying characteristic of these three religions is that they have as their goal the salvation of the world through the Messiah. This is their basic concept of God's dispensation. There is no question that the Jewish faith has been waiting for the Messiah to come. Christianity has been waiting for the Messiah to come again. And here, in the Unification Church, we serve the Messiah as a foundation.
We also know through the lessons of history that God's original chosen people failed to recognize the Messiah for whom they had been waiting. They could not go beyond their own national level. They could not understand that the Messiah who came bringing God's ideal was to go beyond the Jewish people and nation, as well as past history. The Messiah came to save the Roman as well as the Jewish people and to go beyond the Old Testament, which is only the beginning part of God's teaching. The Jewish people were not able to go beyond their own beliefs. That is the lesson we know: the Jewish people were looking to be saved and to take the position of God's elite in the world thereafter. However, God was trying to work with them in order to save the entire world; they failed to understand this.
When Jesus came, he was not understood but he won the victory, nevertheless, by dying for the sake of others; therefore he was resurrected. Then he assembled all his scattered followers and reconstituted the faith and established the beginnings of worldwide Christendom. Followers of Jesus traveled and witnessed and expanded this faith onto the world level. This continued until 1945, when the biblical war of Armageddon began, which was World War II.
On that foundation the Messiah comes again for the sake of the world. No matter what, God must save the entire world, including spirit world. Even if God must sacrifice His hard-won foundation of Christianity and the great country of America, which He has blessed and nourished for two hundred years, He will save the world. This is the teaching that Reverend Moon has introduced and implemented on earth. That is God's way of thinking.
This tradition is not something which Reverend Moon started on his own. It is the very tradition which I received from God and thus I am promoting it here on earth. God had this tradition in the beginning and I merely inherited it. All Unification Church members are destined to inherit this tradition from me. You inherit from your Parents and then you pass it along for the sake of the future.
Why do you call Reverend Moon "True Father"? It is because he has inherited the true tradition from God. Reverend Moon was born because of God. You must understand. Without going through the true tradition, nobody can go to God or Heaven. This true tradition is the only way through which we can build the Kingdom of Heaven.
Our church has sponsored the God Conference as a part of the ecumenical movement to bring all religions together so that we can bequeath the true tradition to them as well. Unless Reverend Moon teaches them, there is no way for people to know what the true tradition of God is. In other words, no one can learn fully about God without learning first from Reverend Moon's teaching.
Youth from around the world with all different cultural and religious backgrounds come to the Youth Seminars. What do they learn? They come to study about religion in general. The question is asked about their own religious leader or the founder of their religion. Study as they may, there is a limit to what can be learned from them. But then they can learn, in a detailed and consistent way, what Reverend Moon did and why, and what effect it has produced. Everything matches and everything checks. They learn not so much about the world, but about Reverend Moon. Why? Because the key of the true tradition of God is only to be found in Reverend Moon. They come to realize that learning thousands of things does not help if they are going down the wrong road.
Those who say, "I still refuse to go the path of restoration by indemnity,' raise your hands. Everyone is willing to work hard for this cause, including black and white people. If that is true, is the world bound to become a good world or bad world? Now we have a clear idea. It really does not matter if your face is disfigured or even if you lose a part of your body. The most important thing is that we follow this path of indemnity, correct indemnity.
But you do not know precisely how to tread this road of indemnity by restoration. You need to learn from me what kind of path I have gone, so that you can copy my way of life. I determined, "I must save the bad people as well as the good people. All people must be saved" Those who are already determined to go the good way of life are no problem; you do not even have to worry about them. Therefore you have to concentrate on how to take care of and teach the people oriented toward evil.
Jesus taught us, "Repent, because the Kingdom of Heaven is near." Why did he say, "Repent"? Repentance is necessary if something has been wrong previously. What is the top of the list of wrong things people can do? The most serious thing you can ever do is to fail to recognize the Messiah, to deny the Messiah, or persecute him. The first thing mankind needs to repent for is what they did to the Messiah in the past. You must understand that the Messiah is the representative of all mankind and the example for all mankind to learn the right way. He is the first example in human history of the mature, perfected individual. There is no other description which is more apt or more precise.
Next, the Messiah sets the example and standard for the race, for the country, the world, the spirit world and the cosmos and shows how to be a perfect object of God. That means as an individual human being, he abandoned himself; he passed through all the tests and rigors of training, went through all the opposition and became qualified as a perfect object to God. This is the first time in history.
The first Adam would not have had to go through all these difficulties if he had not fallen. But the Messiah who came as the second Adam had to go through this because he had to indemnify that which the first Adam failed. Because Adam failed, he made all this indemnity necessary. Barriers went up between the individual and the family, between the family and the clan. Likewise, there is a great big wall between the clan and society and the nation. To get to the world level requires scaling another wall, which is even higher. The Messiah will have to knock down every wall, one after another. He will represent the entire world and bring all of mankind to the position where they believe in him and embrace him. Thus they will gain the same privilege as the Messiah himself for the forgiveness and pardon of God.
God raised people to a spiritually high level through Christianity. World Christianity was in the position to accept the Messiah and bring about world restoration in a relatively short period of time after World War 11. However, they failed to recognize him.
Every race and nationality is represented here in America. This is a collection of Abels from the entire world. America is largely Protestant, although there is also a bit of the Catholic way of thinking. Until now America did not have a Vatican ambassador. For the first time in 117 years, the United States exchanged ambassadors with the Vatican. This is a historical event. The time was right, so they did it.
We know through our own personal experience that within 40 days, the worst and most stubborn person can start to change for the better. The transition is inevitable and powerful. If America had really listened to qualified missionaries speaking God's words, don't you think that all 240 million Americans would be different today?
Some Unification Church members think, "What has Jesus got to do with us?" They exclude Jesus from their way of life and the meaning of their life, especially some seminary graduates. You must clearly see the chronology and the nature of our position. Because of the first Adam, the second Adam was necessary; and the third Adam is connected with the second Adam; in fact, he is the succession of the second Adam.
The first Adam did not know anything to begin with; he was just a teenager when he fell. Whereas the second Adam, Jesus, had knowledge but he did not have the right atmosphere or environment. God prepared the world during the 4000 years of Jewish history, but when Jesus finally came, the people did not know him. They looked for the wrong thing and the wrong goal at that time. Therefore Jesus was crucified.
At the time of the third Adam or the Second Coming, the Messiah knows everything and his environment is right. The thinking of God, Jesus, Adam and the Lord of the Second Advent will inevitably be the same, because they are in the same stream, so to speak. If Adam had not fallen, God's mind and Adam's mind would have become united. But because God's thinking never became the same as Adam's, indemnity became necessary.
If it were not for man's portion of responsibility in God's dispensation, then indemnity would not have been necessary. It would have been automatic restoration, not indemnity restoration. We must have a clear idea why indemnity conditions came to be necessary after Adam: because Adam failed and could not reach perfection. In order to reach the original ideal of perfection each individual needs to fulfill his portion of responsibility. By our going through that responsibility, we come into the realm of the direct dominion of God. Then God can love us, guide us, and provide for us. If Adam had fulfilled his portion of responsibility, certainly we, as the physical offspring from his lineage, would not have needed to pay any indemnity. God did not set up restoration by indemnity from the very beginning, but only after the fall.
Because we are living in the fallen world we now have the individual course of responsibility and beyond that, the family level, the tribal and country level, the world portion of responsibility, and the responsibility to liberate hell in the spirit world. We have that stacked up in front of us. But we are able to do that because we have knowledge and guidance from the Messiah. We are able to fulfill what was never fulfilled before. That is the difference between this time and the past.
Years ago nobody could have done this, but now we can. God prepared for 2000 years through Christian history for the Messiah to come again. Even though sovereignties changed, cultures changed, and national boundaries shifted, still God brought the Christian world up to the level where they could receive the Messiah, welcome him, and follow him. All they had to do was be faithful and fulfill the last portion of responsibility of liberating Heaven and God. But Christianity and the United States and the free world in general have failed so far to fulfill these responsibilities.
Therefore Reverend Moon started from the very beginning to re-indemnify the family, tribe, society and national levels to reach the point where world Christianity once was. In other words, through the meager forces of the Unification Church, I have returned God's dispensation to the upper levels of indemnity.
Our clear objective is to fulfill God's desire by liberating the world from Satan. Furthermore, we have to liberate even Jesus and God from their yokes of sorrow. Jesus was very much a part of the main path of the dispensation. How can we succeed without a knowledge and a deep love and respect for Jesus? Especially the seminary students must make no mistake about this; be clear about this once and for all.
Since Jesus could not go the entire path, the Messiah had to repeat it at the Second Advent. That is where came in. Because world Christianity has not yet fulfilled its mission, all of the world remains under satanic domain. That includes the country of America and the whole free world as well. All these have opposed the True Parents. Individuals became my enemies and tried to eliminate me. Families taught their children, "Don't go near the Unification Church,' and that kind of thing. And nations have been very skeptical and antagonistic.
The pinnacle of all that opposition was reached in 1976. On February 23, 1977, I proclaimed the new era. Thus, Reverend Moon has clearly gone through the barrier. And once we crossed the borderline, that was the country of God.
So 1977 would have been and could have been the literal turning point. But as human history goes, we must add seven more years to be on the safe side, to allow for Satan's margin, so to speak. 1984 is the completion of that. And the court case is lingering on until now. I have done nothing wrong. Virtually every man of religion agrees, but there are those who still insist that Reverend Moon is wrong. But it is only a matter of time.
I Almost like a miracle, many people who opposed me in the past are now turning around and supporting me. They are saying, "There is nothing wrong with Reverend Moon. Every one of us does his books that way and we have never been questioned" I have never given up on Christianity in America. Even though they persecuted us, I never gave up on them. Because of that fact, we see that now they are coming around me to form an alliance. American Christianity and the free world in general will start appreciating what I have done for their sake. You have seen how adamantly the media opposed me and my activities. But look at the same media today: they are turning around, showing signs of being sorry for their previous treatment of us.
Through such gatherings as the Science Conference, the Professors World Peace Academy and the World Media Conference, many groups are finding common ground for unity. We have not only assembled diverse religious denominations, we have also brought all religions together. Not only Christianity, but also representatives of Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism have come to respect Reverend Moon.
Many people in South America as well as in the United States have come to realize the value of CAUSA. Without the ideas presented through CAUSA, there is no way to fight against communism and its subtle evil which pervades the world. There is no other way to cope with these problems. North American as well as South American people are realizing, "I must listen to Reverend Moon and the CAUSA ideal" Even though they don't like it at first, they slowly begin to follow Reverend Moon's teachings and they know that is the right thing to do.
No matter how great a particular country may be, there is no way it can do things the right way without the teachings and guidance of Reverend Moon. No matter who an individual may be, whether a president or a great leader, he cannot go God's path fully without Reverend Moon's advice and teaching. Nobody else truly knows how to guide a nation in this dangerous world. The concern of Americans should not be for prosperity at this time; their concern should be for nothing other than survival. They must survive the rigid questioning and judgment of God in the near future, as well as the physical enemy of communism, which is striving to overtake the United States. The only way for the American people, on any level, is to hold on tenaciously to Reverend Moon and hope that, God willing, they will be able to survive.
Not only the members of the Unification Church see this, but also others in the world are beginning to see it. Ten years ago I said that America would soon be on the verge of disaster. Most Church members could not agree with me, even though they wanted to. They thought, "Oh, Father, I don't see how America will be so bad off. America is great and it will continue to be great" But now the same people are saying, "If something isn't done now, America will perish" Everyone agrees. Moonies are very much aware of America declining now.
You have tried everything; American society has tried everything. That means the only thing to do is to forget everything else, and follow and cling to Reverend Moon, period. If your spouse opposes you, it is better to lose that spouse than lose your life and his or her life as well. If the country or the world opposes you, it is better to save your life than to gain the world's approval.
We must surrender to God. We must tell Him, "God, do as Thou wilt with me" So who will go the way of indemnity? As long as the Moonies follow the True Parents, all the other problems will be solved ultimately.
Regardless of your age, sex, or background, you are following my spiritual leadership. Likewise, many try to follow me physically, wherever I go. If I go to Africa, then everybody wants to go there, too. If I go to Ocean Church, does that mean everybody wants to go to Ocean Church? Perhaps I will go to Florida and sunbathe for a change. Would you say, "Oh, no, that's terrible!"? Or would you say, "That's great"?
From this time on, do not expect me to be standing on this platform to speak to you every single Sunday. I need to take more precautions in the future. It is important. Do you understand? I receive all sorts of information not only from one source but different sources and channels. I know that God is right behind me; I have been acting just as if no dangers existed. When Heung Jin went to the Cartagena Media Conference and to the Chicago Science Conference, he walked in front of me all the time, because he knew there was no one else who would serve as a shield if danger was imminent. You can learn a lesson from this.
Without the True Father, this world would never change. Especially until now, there has been such strong opposition, but I have still come to this level. From now on there will be less and less opposition. How much more I can achieve in the next few months, the next few years! We are truly on the verge of historical victory. I exactly inherited God's indemnity course and have accomplished this much on the foundation of God's indemnity.
Now it is your turn to take the indemnity test from God. You will do as well as I have. In this time, you have to take my indemnity by taking my position. Do you know what I mean? This is your duty. I have taught you everything so from now on, you can do everything. Until now I acted as a human shield for God and the Unification Church; now it's your turn to become a shield for the Unification Church and for me.
But that is a glad thing for you. You do not have to go through as much as I have. I had to think and plan and do it all by myself. All you have to do is listen to me carefully, follow my guidance, and your responsibility will be fulfilled. It's such an easy way compared to what I had to go through. Nevertheless, it takes total obedience.
No matter how difficult or disagreeable Ocean Church may be to you, since I did it as a part of the indemnity, that means you all must do it. That includes all you women. Do you women want to be in Ocean Church?
You know so many things clearly now. By becoming a shield for me, you will become a shield to the world as well. Those who pledge, not just with words but with your heart, stand up and raise your hands. You must clearly remember that I never complained while I was fulfilling my portion of responsibility. You must take that as the tradition. We must forget eating, sleeping, and everything else except fulfilling our responsibility. In this way, we can't lose. Let us all say, "Amen!" God bless you.
