1987

GOD'S PROVIDENTIAL COURSE AND THE COURSE OF HUMAN LIFE

Date: 1987-01-11
Belvedere

Translator - Bo Hi Pak

God's providence can be divided into two courses: the indirect and the direct. We can also say that one is the providential will of creation, and the other is the providential will of restoration. After the fall of man, God had to pursue a restorational course in His providence. In other words, we are dealing with a God whose will is the restoration of mankind.

Many people nowadays don't even know if God exists. However, the Unification Church is a group which lives realistically with God. Not just those within the church but also those working on strictly economic missions are living with God's presence. We feel every day the real presence of God, so we are actually linking two lives-the life of faith and the life of reality. Commonly in the religious tradition, there has been a gap between one's life of faith and daily life. But in the Unification Church, the pattern is different: our life of faith and our everyday reality are one.

Traditionally, a person could only grow in his spiritual life by separating from the secular world. Thus the tendency of religious people has always been toward "otherworldliness" But in the Unification Church, on the contrary, we feel that our accomplishment must be within the real world, the secular world. It is there that we must achieve God's will. Always the problem lies in the difference between God's will and our human interpretation or understanding of that will.

As you know, there is no possibility for God to fall; He has no relationship with such a thing. God existed always - before the human fall and after it - but there was a difference in God's mind after the fall. He became totally concentrated upon the restoration of fallen humanity. Today God is working in this fallen world, but He never compromises Himself or comes down to fallen humanity's thinking. His mind is always centered upon one thing: achieving His original purpose of creation. His providential will has always been to bring humanity back to that original place.

People have a tendency to remember only joyful things and to forget or ignore unpleasant memories. That is part of our original nature. Good things must be good not only for ourselves but also for our family, clan, tribe, nation and world. Ultimately something good should also be joyful for God. Another original human tendency is to limit any sort of tragic or dreadful experiences to oneself We don't want to expand bad things to others.

The original mind is always trying to engender good things, good elements, wanting to increase good all the way up to the level of almighty God. What is the ultimate aspiration of the original human mind? It is to see a joyful universe and joyful God. As an American, you don't want to see just your nation joyful. You would like to see joy for your own nation linked with the rest of the world. We want to see the joy of the world and God.

There are two minds within each person: one is the self-centered, fallen mind and the other is the original mind, which is a portion or reflection of God's nature. Those two minds are always in conflict within each person and this is truly the human problem. Why is our mind divided like that? Why do people have both an altruistic mind and a selfish mind? Throughout history, philosophers have tried to answer this question and solve the problem, but they could not.

Without knowing the truth about the &11 of man, many people have concluded that we have two conflicting minds because the original cause also has two minds-that there are two origins, in other words. The greatest contribution of religion throughout history has been to explain that there was a fall of man in the beginning which caused two conflicting human natures to arise. Where did religion itself come from? It came from God. If we did not have any understanding that there had been a human fall, we would have no way to begin to solve human problems.

Think about it: human nature became tainted in the first human beings, the first ancestors of humanity. Because of the multiplication of humanity from those first parents who fell, the entire population of the world has been tainted with that fallen nature. No one could escape from it. Everybody is born with it and it pervades the entire world.

If one could see the residue of fallen nature which has been accumulating throughout history, it would be higher than the Himalayan mountains, deeper than the Pacific Ocean, and more vast than the Sahara Desert. But people simply do not realize this. We do not see this incredible burden of sinfulness and we do not realize how severe it is. Would you be willing to pay any amount of money to cast off that burden from your shoulders? Have you ever seriously thought, "Yes, I am truly burdened by this sinful nature of fallen man"?

Even though people are crushed under this heavy burden of fallen nature, the original human mind never dies and is always struggling to be free. It is always ready to seize any opportunity to revive and express itself. Of the two minds within you, which would you prefer to be connected with- the original mind or the fallen mind? Certainly, you prefer the original mind. It is easy to say that, but can you imagine how beaten, broken and kicked around that original mind has been throughout history? It is virtually covered with scars.

Think about it. Picture the original mind as a baby's face-precious little nose, mouth, ears, and so forth- completely covered by scars. In St. Paul's lamentation in the Bible, he describes his sorrow over the struggle within himself: "Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of death?" This is a vivid description of the struggle. Who shall liberate that original mind which is yearning to be free from the bondage of the sinful mind?

You know that you are important and that you love yourself. But then, which self do you love-the original self or the fallen one? The original mind wants to go in a certain direction, but the body is like a slave to the fallen nature. Such separation exists between the original mind and the body. Imagine the feeling of someone who goes to the spirit world and can see very clearly the existence of God as well as the course human beings should walk, but he is incapable of going that way. Even though he can see it clearly, he won't have a physical body anymore, so he won't be able to do it. There is no greater tragedy than to see the goal clearly but to be unable to move even one inch in that direction. Do you follow?

Do not look for heaven and hell elsewhere. It is all within you. Just from the guidelines I have given you so far this morning, you can determine whether you are heading for heaven or hell. This is the reason the path of religion has always been to deny oneself. Anything the body enjoys, you must learn to deny. Something your physical eyes like to see will often be disliked by the eye of your original mind. What the body wants to do, the original mind doesn't want to do. When we really look at this situation, we realize the incredible paradox within man. Everything within you is contradictory.

If someone explained clearly how that contradiction came about in human nature, his would be the greatest of all contributions to humanity. Furthermore, if there were some prescription, some method of eliminating that contradiction, that would be a truly priceless gift. Each person can feel the contradiction within himself and his own behavior. The original mind wants to do one thing but the body doesn't want to do it. However, the original mind is not God's will itself; it is a sensitive agent which can detect the will of God. You can see how far we have deviated from the original course of God's will.

As we said, we always try to retain and dwell on our good memories. What about God? Do you think He has enjoyed going down this path of restoration? God doesn't even want to remember that the fall of man took place, or what He has had to do to restore man. Is there any parent who would be happy if his son were imprisoned and waiting on death row? In a way, the heart of the parent would be more grieved than that of the son in prison. Even to think briefly about his son would cause him agonized suffering.

Imagine: if even the fallen human parental nature suffers like that, how much more so does the universal Parent, the pure, unfallen, perfected parental heart of God? How much suffering has God been enduring because of the human fall and the degradation of human behavior? The broken heart of God lies behind all human tragedy.

God has been implementing His providence through the religious world. He raised up new religions in history and then He had to allow religious people to make sacrifices, one after another, in order to advance the course of humanity. Each time, God's heart was broken all over again.

Do you think God could become discouraged or disheartened? What could He do? The choices God has faced were very limited. There is no way He can just give up on humanity. At the same time, He can't say, "I don't care" Compare your own situation with that of God-which one is more miserable? You say it is God's, but you have to feel that to your very bones. God's broken heart is far more pained and suffering than anything you have endured. Once you taste God's agony, you will feel, "I want to become the champion of God and help to alleviate His suffering. Please count on me"

When you walk down the roads of the major cities of America with this kind of heart, virtually everything you encounter is the enemy of God and the enemy of life. You can see people pursuing alcohol, drugs, having parties and dancing-people just trying to have a good time and enjoying their lives-but they are actually an affront to God. Once you realize the suffering heart of God, then you feel, "No matter what, I cannot be a part of this fallen world. I have to get back to God at any price" How seriously have each of you been thinking like that? How deeply have you ever felt that searing pain within your heart? Of course, you might say, "Oh, after all, God is love and He loves me" We may talk a lot about God, but how far away from understanding His true heart have we been, like foreigners!

The original mind, which is so beaten down, must be brought back to life. You should feel that you want to take that battered, wounded and scarred original mind, wrap it gently in a silken cloth, comfort it and try to revive it. How many times have we been thinking like this? Once you really touch the realm of the heart of God, your only expression is deeply bitter tears. This is the reason the turning point of a life of faith is always repentance. Through true repentance you come to the poignant realization that you have been wrong and in an entirely different world from God.

Even though we may know the Principle, we have been so lacking in the true desire to comfort the suffering heart of God. We have been so apathetic, like people with numbed feelings. You should say, "Even if I cannot liberate the suffering of God throughout the world, at least I can liberate Him from suffering because of me" How many of us have even come to that limited realization? Don't even worry about the salvation of the whole world and the suffering of humanity-first think about one individual, one self. It is virtually laughable if you cannot even solve the problems of your own self and your own house, but then go out there and say, "I want to solve the world's problems!"

Therefore, our way of life should truly be a tearful path, always thinking, "How inadequate I am in the sight of God. But since I know His suffering heart, I want not only to liberate God from worrying about me but I also want to help my neighbors as much as I can. I want to reduce the suffering of God and alleviate His sadness" The work of salvation must start from yourself; then you go to your immediate neighbor-your own children, parents, brothers and sisters. They are in the same bondage of sin, so you should want to liberate them. You can pray, "Almighty God, do not appear to me with Your restorational will. Don't worry about that anymore-I am already restored to Your will, so please appear to me with Your creational purpose. Please show Yourself with Your original appearance"

The same thing applies to me. Once I came to the poignant realization of the most aching and broken heart of God, nothing could stop me. Whatever persecution the world might give me, it didn't matter. I was only able to concentrate upon one thing: how could I bring comfort and liberation to my Heavenly Father? My constant, ongoing attitude is, "I want to renew myself today and go further to the goal of totally liberating the heart of God" I am still practicing that way of life. How much more so should you who are following my path and tradition?

This morning, as you can hear, my voice is virtually gone because of a cold. Mother told me, "Why don't you let one of the leaders take over the sermon and rest your voice?" That was her loving recommendation, but then I told her, "No, my Father in Heaven doesn't rest, no matter what. How can I?" This is a very serious aspect of life. Who shall unburden Him? Know the truth and the truth shall set you free-you know the truth now.

Let us talk a little bit about the spirit world and about God's original ideal of creation. God is almighty, omnipresent, and omnipotent; He is the King of all things, reigning over the entire creation. Can you imagine God without any creation? Suppose He decided that He was totally self-sufficient and trouble-free by Himself. But what kind of fun could God have if He had nobody to communicate with? By Himself in spirit world, God would have nothing to worry about-He doesn't have to worry about food, shelter or money or anything like that. But suppose He wanted to have an outing, perhaps go flying around the universe. If nothing were created, there wouldn't be any place for Him to visit. God can be anywhere at anytime, but what if He had no universe to go flying around in?

Original human nature comes from God. We want to find stimulation and excitement. We also like to possess precious things, putting them in a special place where we can go and look at them at times. That gives you pleasure. Don't you suppose that somewhere a giant star exists composed entirely of diamond? The earth, with all its elements and substances, is a microcosm of the entire universe, so there must be all kinds of elements out there, such as diamond and golden stars. God can make all of those things. Almighty means all-capable.

Let's say God has a diamond star. What kind of fun could that bring to Him? If God went to visit that huge diamond star, He would enjoy looking at it the first time, but by the second or third time He would just feel bored. It wouldn't have any special meaning for Him. Then God would naturally start to think, "Even if it was a lot of trouble, I would still like to have someone around. I could shake him or hit him if necessary, but I need somebody to have give and take with"

You women, imagine that you were the most beautiful woman on earth but you had to be alone all your life. In that case, you would start to look at your face and feel it was ugly. You would say, "So what if I'm beautiful? I would rather look like a pumpkin if I could love someone and have someone love me" What excitement can you feel from being alone throughout your life? You can't get excitement from a mirror. Furthermore, you don't want another woman to tell you, "You are gorgeous" You want a man to say such things to you. By the same token, God wouldn't find stimulation if another God showed up, saying, "You look great" In human relationships we need both a subject and object, so you can imagine that the same principle applies to God. God needs His object, too.

Your eyes are your instruments of vision. If there were nothing else out there, no object of their vision, what good would they be? Your eyes want to fulfill their role, so if they looked around and there was nothing to perceive, they would become discouraged and dim. The eyes are shiny and lively because there are objects in the world for them to perceive.

What is your nose good for? Its purpose is to smell things. What about your mouth? It wants to speak and say lots of things, but there needs to be someone to receive those words, someone to listen. If there is nobody around, the mouth just has to stay closed. Imagine a mouth with no lower lip, only an upper lip. That would mean there could be no interaction between the lips, and therefore the mouth couldn't function properly.

According to these illustrations, doesn't it seem that God also needs His own object? Put yourself in God's position, thinking about creating an object. Would He decide to create someone smarter and wiser than Himself; or perhaps someone more beautiful; or someone with greater power and capability? Are those the kinds of things He would be looking for in an object? God is the God of wisdom, therefore He needs an object who can give Him an intellectual response, not some inanimate thing like a flower vase that just sits there. He needs an object that is like Himself, something that can respond to Him in kind.

He would also want plenty of variety. If every one of His objects had blue eves. soon He would be tired of them. So God also likes to see brown eyes, green eyes, maybe yellow and red, too-all kinds of eyes! What about you do you enjoy seeing only blue eyes all the time, or don't you enjoy variety? Here in this audience we see a lot of variety. Look at this brother here with black curly hair, black skin, and then his eyes are very white and bright. There is quite a contrast between his dark skin and the whites of his eyes. That is visually exciting.

We can observe a certain order to the creation. Everything in the universe is a symbolic expression or extension of some aspect of human beings. Where do human beings come from? We are expressions and extensions of God Himself. That is the way the creation has been organized. God created everything within the subject/object framework, so there is no creation without an object. God knew that if He had created things differently, say as neuter, neutral beings, they would accuse Him, saying, "You need objects, God, so why did You create all of us without objects? We have nothing to have give and take with"

Therefore, the greatest feature which God employed within His creation was the pair system. You want to be a part of a pair yourself. This concept came from your Creator. All the aspects of a human being are in the pair system just as all the aspects of the universe are in the pair system. When men and women experience the give and take of love, it teaches us how to relate with the rest of creation. Man is wild and cruel when he doesn't know love; many people can kill animals or crush insects thoughtlessly. But once a person begins to know the taste of love, he doesn't want to do such things anymore.

Love only functions in the pair system because it requires a subject and object relationship. Male and female, plus and minus-the whole creation is organized like that. The ideal is for the lower pairs of life forms to serve and support the higher pairs, reaching higher and higher all the way to the top. Ultimately there is God and right below God, human beings. Why do we exist? It is in order to reach out and fulfill greater love. Each lower form of creation is reaching out for greater love, moving upward all the way to human beings. Then human beings can reach for greater love by going to God Himself. When the lower elements are absorbed by the higher, it brings fulfillment to the lower elements.

According to Charles Darwin's theory of evolution and the survival of the fittest, only the strong survive. The weak will be demolished and only strong species will continue. Purely from an external point of view, evolution describes this upward movement of life we were talking about. Thus there is nothing really wrong with the theory of evolution on the external level. But where does the theory of evolution come to a deadlock? Darwin didn't consider the aspect of love. If his theory were completely true, then man should have continued evolving to a higher being; the process should be continuing. The original mind should be improving and becoming something greater, but is the original mind changing like that?

All creation has the internal desire to reach the top, to be absorbed by higher and higher beings, and eventually to reach the love of God. Let's look at a little worm, like the one I am drawing on the blackboard. What is that worm's ultimate desire? He wants to be absorbed by a higher being; then the higher being wants to be absorbed by another higher being. Going higher and higher, they will all become the elements of a human being. That is the worm's ultimate goal-to become part of a human being because by doing that, he can be in touch with the love of God. When the human being is united with the love of God, that worm also fulfills the love of God. In other words, the worm reaches the love of God indirectly.

Therefore, if you sacrifice yourself in order to reach for higher love, it is not a tragedy. It is the order of creation to sacrifice oneself to reach a higher level. That is the glory of all the creation. Even human beings can sacrifice themselves for the sake of a higher love; that is actually the noblest and most glorious thing someone can do. You naturally want to do anything for the sake of true love, you will even suffer joyfully for that. That is the common denominator and the law of nature which works on all levels.

Certain primitive religions used to make human sacrifices. Sometimes the sacrifice was a virgin, sometimes a child whose blood was shed as an offering on the altar. Such religious rituals were very primitive and a perversion of the ultimate human desire-to reach out to the love of God. By making those sacrifices, they wanted to bring down the love of God to humanity and they thought they could do it in that way.

Everyone must be willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the fulfillment of true love. That is actually the law of nature. It has been with us ever since the creation. The noblest thing for human beings is to be able to sacrifice oneself for the fulfillment of greater love. Do you understand?

Reverend Moon is also following this universal formula precisely. My attitude is always, "If God needs it, I am willing to give up my life for the accomplishment of a higher goal" Even the glass of water can say, "1, too, want to be able to reach out toward the love of God" How can that water do that? Actually, all the plants and the creatures are willing to be consumed by any person who truly embodies the love of God. That is the way they can come in contact with God's love.

You love Father, don't you? You love me even though I push you out to work hard. Why is that? Simply because of this formula. When you are sacrificing for my sake. You know that is a way you can reach closer to the fulfillment of true love. That is why you are willing to do that.

There is no exception to this law, even for God. He always wants to sacrifice Himself for the sake of love. He gives His love for the sake of human beings. As you can see, one formula is working for everything and everyone in this universe-from the tiniest life form all the way up to God. Therefore, nobody in the universe has the right to complain. Do you think God wants to give and sacrifice for Reverend Moon's sake? That means Reverend Moon is a very happy and fortunate person. Where does the rejection and hatred of Reverend Moon come from? It is from the evil world which doesn't want to see him succeed. They despise him and want to tear him apart.

The universe is like one house. The name of that one house is "Moon house" If anybody is looking for true love, they have to go to the "Moon house" In Korean, we have such a word as "Moonie" and it has a wonderful meaning, actually two meanings. According to one meaning it is embroidering a certain pattern. The other meaning is dialogue or discussion, give and take of words. Those two meanings are in the Korean word "Moonie" and those are certainly not bad things.

The flowing give and take of love follows the natural law. As long as you live by this formula, you will not get sick. No disease can invade you. This is very important. Nothing can conquer true love, not even death. Everything is under its dominion. Even Almighty God behaves in absolute obedience to true love. That is its power.

Think about God's joy after creating man. We can understand God's heart by looking at a parent who is beholding his first baby. That is the same kind of infinite, overflowing joy God felt when He created man. When a woman becomes pregnant, the entire focus of the couple is on that pregnancy. As soon as the wife feels the baby move for the first time, they are so excited. That is like the period when God was creating-He felt a lot of excitement. Why does procreation of new life engender such great joy, not only for the couple but also for their parents, relatives and friends? Everyone feels the joy of a new life on the way because there will be one more object of the true love of God. That means God can move closer to that family. When you see great geniuses and talented and virtuous people coming out of a family, you know that God came close to that family.

In America today many families are breaking down because the thinking of the husband and wife-primarily the wife-is so narrow. They say, "l don't want the burden of bearing a baby. I want to be free!" It is truly blind thinking to reject having a child. When they do that, they have no family base and many problems will afflict them. Compare the parents who have only one child with those who have ten. When each child comes along, a new aspect of God's love can be realized within that family. Many American women do not recognize the true beauty of a woman in her forties, even fifties, who is holding and breast feeding her baby. That is the most beautiful and fulfilling moment for a woman, but many American women do not realize that.

Any mother who has raised a lot of children simply could not be an evil person. No one could be evil after the many challenges and experiences of raising children. This is the way God intended-that people experience giving birth, loving their children, and then expand that loving relationship to the society and all of humanity. God wants us to experience His true love in that process. And it doesn't end here on earth; it continues in the spirit world, expanding throughout eternity to all of humanity.

Mother, for example, has twelve children on the earth now. In learning how to accommodate and care for those twelve different personalities and character types, Mother learns how to harmonize with the twelve different types within all of humanity. When you are ready and willing to harmonize with twelve different people, you can harmonize with virtually anybody in the world. When Mother looks at any of you church members, she can see that you fit into one of the twelve categories of the True Children. She might think, "Oh, I see. Your way of talking is like my second son, or my third daughter,' and so forth. In that way, she can immediately feel an affinity and a loving and close relationship with you because you are linked with the True Children. Thus she feels the desire to buy you things and give you gifts. Do you follow?

After all, everything is part of the textbook of life. God is almighty, omnipresent and omnipotent. Therefore, He knows everything and is the King of knowledge and wisdom. Think about it: the first man knew nothing. Man was ignorant and totally in the dark, so God could always have fooled man if He had wanted to. But do you think God would say, "This is the law of the universe: you have to love Me unconditionally and do everything I ask" Do you think God would be selfish and say, "You are My servants"?

God was the first one to engender the philosophy of living for the sake of others. He has always practiced that way-living for the sake of human beings, serving them, loving them, teaching them, and caring for them. That is the original concept of the creation. The ideal is achieved only by the interchange of give and take within the relationship of love. God exhibited a loving heart and a giving attitude toward man first, then He wanted man to freely respond to Him. Then man could live for the sake of God just as God lived for the sake of man.

This is the universal formula of God, what we call the Principle. Even though God's enemy came into being, God could not hate him. God's formula was to try to melt the enemy with love. In your case, if you are loving your enemy but still he continues to oppose you and work evil against you, what happens? When we read the Bible, we see the simple words, "Love your enemy" When you understand the universal formula, that is the most natural statement; it is not an abnormal thing. You must even love your enemy; you can't help but love him. Without doing that, there is no way to save the country or the world. This is why the Unification Church formula is to live for the sake of others. In that way you can always become something bigger by continually serving a cause that is greater.

Let us ask, then, what is it like in the Kingdom of Heaven? Unless someone is completely trained and disciplined under the universal formula we have discussed today, he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven. What about you? Are you confident that you can enter that Kingdom? Some say yes, but then you laugh. If you were truly confident, you wouldn't laugh. It is only through Reverend Moon that this teaching has come. Who is God? He is the lover of the entire universe and all of humanity. Thus if you want to become one with Him, you must take on His characteristics and love humanity and the entire world.

What will you do once you enter the Kingdom of Heaven? Only those people who lived a life of service and love for others will be there. Within such a realm in spirit world, everybody would only wish to live for the sake of others. Can you imagine such a society? When you live for the sake of others, the entire universe belongs to you. The person who lives only for his own sake is isolated from everyone and everything else; nobody wants to have relationship with him.

Do you think you have to worry in spirit world about three meals a day? Or perhaps you have to acquire lots of clothing and comfortable surroundings? How about housing? It's all there. You don't need to work on those things. In spirit world, you can surround yourself with lots of flowers if you wish. As long as you enjoy them and want them around, they will be there. But the moment you say, "I'm tired of flowers now,' they will disappear because you don't want them anymore. Then if you feel like enjoying a great meal, all you have to do is think about it and it will appear before you. How convenient that is!

When you live in that world, you don't have to worry at all about what to eat, what to wear and so forth, but you have to live there for eternity. That's a long time. How would you spend all that time? You've got to do something. In that world, the effort of everyone is concentrated on one thing: how to come closer to the love of God. The occupation every day, all day long is getting closer to God and receiving more of His love. How can you do that? You have to learn how to love the world and humanity here on earth. You must live with that kind of spirit so that you are already eligible to be the recipient of the love of God. Then His love will reach out for you.

Without the fall of man, where would Adam and Eve be today? Would they be separate or together in spirit world? They would be together. What would they be doing, man and woman together? Normally, one might feel encumbered to have someone always following him around, so why is togetherness desirable for Adam and Eve? Why should two beings always want to come together?

Let's say there is a pipeline that taps into the well of love. Man is on one side and woman is the other side. Each has a straw into that pipeline upon which they are sucking, and sweet honey is coming out. Adam and Eve are sucking on the pipeline from both sides to get that sweet honey taste. When the pipe becomes empty, amazingly, another pipe will come down from heaven and the vertical supply line will continue to pour honey into it. What a good deal! So actually, they are sucking on the love of God.

This vertical pipeline would not supply any honey until the two sides were drawing on it evenly together. If one is not drawing on it, the supply won't come. The husband and wife can say, "We are both pulling on God's love harder and harder" They will be sucking from both ends and coming closer and closer because they want to work together. Then they will find themselves directly under the vertical line. Plus and minus meet right there-God as plus, and united man and woman as minus. This is the ideal.

That is the way husbands and wives should be and this is the reason for the Blessing-to fulfill this "pipeline ideal" You mustn't forget this. Some people take a very secular viewpoint and start to judge and criticize their husband or wife. When a blessed couple is experiencing the give and take of love, you are actually bringing God into your life. Thus the method to occupy God is by truly loving each other. The ultimate human goal is the occupation of God.

God created all the beautiful things in the universe-the diamond stars, the golden planets, and all of that-for the sake of human beings. As God's children you are meant to enjoy this universe. Then you can go to God and say, "Heavenly Father, thank You for all these wonderful things You have given to us" At that point, God can take delight and chuckle and say, "Heh, heh, now you know what I have done, my son and daughter" You feel so grateful if someone gives you a small thing like a diamond ring or necklace, but think about what God has given you: diamond and golden stars. How much gratitude you should feel! When you show your gratitude, God will laugh and rejoice, saying, "Finally you understand what I did for you, my child"

I have been speaking about the ideal of God, and I know God well. Yet God is much greater than these ideal words of Reverend Moon. You be the judge of this: does Father love Mother more, or does Mother love Father more? It's a very difficult question, but go ahead, give me an answer. There were many things Mother didn't know that I had to teach her, but one thing is sure: there is total oneness between us. There is no way we can ever be separated. If we were, it would bring terrible consequences-division between God and man and all kinds of division. The man who has the happiest wife must be the happiest man. Do you think Father is the happiest man, then?

The same logic applies to you. Become happy sons and daughters of God and then God can be a happy Father in Heaven. Isn't that right? God created men and women because He wanted to distribute love along that special pipeline. Men and women inherit the universe together. God didn't say, "The universe is all Mine" Instead, He would like to hear you say, "This universe is mine" Then God would respond, "That's perfectly all right. Yes, it is yours because I created it for you"

If an elderly couple is about to depart from the physical world, which of their children would they like to give their largest inheritance to? It would be to those children who love them the most, those who really have heartistic connection with the parents. God feels the same.

You blessed couples, raise your hands please. Oh, too much! What do you think-because of you, is Father the happiest Father and God the happiest God? That means you are all united couples and perfectly happy, sucking on the sweet honey? When you say no, that means Father and God are unhappy because you are unhappy. Isn't that true? Don't forget that men and women are meant to draw on the love of God together through the pipeline of love.

Those who have had the experience of kissing, raise your hands, please. Suppose when you go to the spirit world, the first thing they ask you is, "Have you ever kissed someone?" You must be able to shout joyfully, "Yes!" Why should you hesitate now? If you want to practice how to answer in spirit world, you can do it now in front of me. Those who have had kissing experiences, raise your hands, please. Is that all?

When you kiss, do you push each other away? No, you embrace and pull closer together. Actually, there is no shame in that at all, as long as you are a husband and wife of Principle. To God, passionate kissing is not ugly. It is truly beautiful, like ten thousand watts of electricity shining and sparkling. In the give and take between husband and wife, their loving sounds are beautiful. God would like to broadcast those sounds of love to the entire universe so everybody could hear them. Then all the things of creation, the entire planet earth, will start to dance to the greatest music of all-the sound of love.

Do you think God can dance and laugh? When God laughs and smiles and begins to dance, the entire universe will begin to dance with Him. Now you know what is the Kingdom of Heaven. No one can enter it without the experience of true love. That is certain. Many Christians have lived with an incredible lack of foresight. They isolate themselves in this life and then they think they can enter the Kingdom of Heaven in heaven, but that is not true.

You might think that Reverend Moon is telling you a lie, but you must feel that it is a most tasty theory. Even if it were a lie, you would like to live by it! But guess what is true. It is the truth of truths, the core truth of the universe. Right now, the one who is listening most attentively to this sermon is God Himself. He is saying, "Reverend Moon is really speaking on My behalf now. How did he know all My secrets?" If God is listening attentively, what about you? Are you apathetic and distracted? With this kind of understanding, you feel great excitement and look forward eagerly to your marriages.

We have spoken so far about God's providential course. What about the human course? It has been functioning absolutely opposite to God's way. Instead of living for the sake of others, everyone seeks after his own interests first and foremost. That is what we see in the families, clans, societies, and nations. This is our incredible challenge. The Moonies are the first pioneers who understand the truth. Therefore, we are responsible to teach it to the rest of the world. We are the first ones God has revealed the truth to, so if you do not pass it on to other people, you will be accused in spirit world.

As we have said, in spirit world people don't worry about what to eat, wear and so forth; they only care about reaching out for more of God's love. How can we duplicate that attitude here on earth? How can we concentrate on only one thing: the love of God? This is our incredible challenge. How can we transcend our physical considerations and concentrate on reaching the love of God and practicing His laws here on earth?

This is why Jesus told people 2,000 years ago, "Do not worry about what to eat, what to wear and where to dwell. Those are the things the Gentiles worry about. You must worry only about justice and righteousness and the Kingdom of Heaven" That was the clear teaching of Jesus because he knew this truth well. The spirit world is the realm of love. Even if you are greatly attached to your material possessions, you cannot take even one small item with you on the day you go to spirit world.

Suppose each person had a certain quota of material substances he could consume here on earth. Suppose you were allocated this big circle, but you said, "No, I don't need that much. I only need this small part in the center" In that case, all the rest of the circle of material wealth which God allocated to you would be transferred to your children and your posterity. Any people or nation with this kind of attitude will prosper.