Father’s Speech During 40th Anniversary of The Establishment of HSA-UWC On May 1, 1994 At Little Angels Performing Arts School in Seoul, Korea
I CONSIDER it a great honor that so many of you have attended this evening’s banquet commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the founding of the Unification Church. Our gathering here today is all the more meaningful as the leaders of the Inter-Religious Federation for World Peace (IRFWP), who recognize the positive value in other religions and who have made much effort to bring about understanding and cooperation between religions, are here together with the leaders of religions represented in Korea.
If we, as the leaders of many religions working under God’s will, cannot cooperate with and respect each other, through whom can the conflict and animosity inherent in the selfishness of man be resolved? God feels tremendous joy as He looks on this occasion today.
I believe that you will have gained many useful experiences from the explanations of other religious traditions during this conference with its theme “The Reality of Evil and the Response of the World’s Religions.” What does each religion see as the root of evil? Until now, have the efforts to analyze the root of evil and to deal with it been sufficient? Serious research in this area would help make religious life much more positive and energetic.
I WALKED JESUS’ LONELY PATH
By confidently confronting the evil that has worked in the past and still works in the present, we can enhance the status of religion and its role in society. Moreover, I feel happy that we can celebrate today’s event together with scholars who, through the work of the Professors World Peace Academy (PWPA) and the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences (ICUS), have devoted themselves to bringing about harmony and unity among the sciences, and to seeking out absolute values.
I have, from early on, always considered scholars’ research and resolve, together with their pioneering efforts that have guided man forward, as tremendously important in influencing history and realizing the human ideal. I thank the more than 10,000 distinguished professors from more than one hundred countries who have understood and supported me.
Looking back on the past, the memory is still very fresh of when, during those dark times, God revealed the providence to me and called me to undertake a universal mission. It was a time when the nation that was to take responsibility for the will faced a series of trials of poverty, adversity, struggle and war. There was no country in which the will could blossom. Korea was liberated from Japan with the end of the Second World War, but a unified fatherland that God could settle in did not exist. The Christian foundation He had prepared for the sake of the will actually became a criticizing and persecuting enemy. I had no way other than to pioneer by starting from the very beginning on the lonely path that Jesus had to walk. I will never forget the living God’s guidance and deep love that I experienced in those times of suffering, during which I had no other adviser or counselor.
The God I know is neither bound to ceremony nor is He tied to one particular religious faith. He is not a being who is controlled by a particular religious doctrine. God wants to experience a direct living relationship with our pure and genuine spirit. It is much more difficult to move the spirit world than it is to move the physical world. How much greater, then, will the reverberations be when the right conditions to mobilize the spirit world are found? Since God is the Creator and Lord of the universe, is there anything that is not possible when He makes the decision to help and support?
In this fallen world Satan attacks first, so God’s side cannot but be struck first and endure all kinds of suffering. God is later able to victoriously claim back with compensation for damage. The foundation on which the Unification Church stands today was not accomplished smoothly. This foundation was built, with God’s support and while under constant attack from Satan’s side, on the basis of self-sacrifice and indemnity conditions. When we look back at our history of suffering, it is here that we find the reason to be grateful.
I NEVER TOOK THE SECULAR VIEWPOINT
During that time, while I was pioneering my painful course, how often I experienced dark times and times when I could not see the light of the future! However desperate the situation was, even without any clear way forward, I never analyzed it, or responded, according to a secular viewpoint. I interpreted things through God’s unchanging principle and heavenly law, and sought the answers through them. I have never fretted over what the world said about me and how people looked at me. I focused myself and lived only according to how God Himself thought about and viewed a situation.
The spiritual world and the earthly world are not separate worlds cut off from each other. Under one fundamental principle of existence, they are in a reciprocal relationship of give and take with each other. Our association originally began as a spiritual association to bring unity through the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit?
It does not mean a partial or temporary spiritual power or work. It is the power of God’s love through which the spiritual world and the human world can create a harmonious resonance centering on true love. The Unification Church, through investing itself in the way of life centered on true love, enables people to have profoundly moving experiences of heart. Furthermore, the Unification community receives the constant support of the spiritual world.
Honored Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen! Now at this fortieth anniversary milestone, the Unification Church has completed the course of separation from Satan. We are entering the new era when, in a realm of brightness, we can attend and experience the reality of God freely. The Unification Church has received the protection of the heavenly will, following the tradition set up by the True Parents. It will realize the righteous way of true love that invests for the sake of others, and accomplish the purpose of God’s creation on the earth.
I thank you all sincerely once again. I close by wishing you good health, and God’s abundant blessing on the work that you are doing for the public good. Thank you very much.