Father’s speech at the pledge service on True Parents’ Birthday celebration, which was held on February 13, 1997 in New Yorker hotel
WHEN you share rice cake with True Parents, make sure yow· mind and body become united into one. Between husband and wife, there should be absolute unity; among parents, family, nation and world there are different scales and ranges of unity. Absolute unity should be obtained in order to share in this kind of food.
As Unification Church members, particularly blessed couples, every Sunday morning we have pledge service with our family members, and after the pledge service, we are supposed to share holy food among our family members.
Originally, Adam and Eve should have shared this kind of holy food with their family members centering on God, but because of the fall this did not take place. Therefore, Unification Church blessed couples should do the original will of God which was bestowed upon Adam and Eve’s family. Do you have this kind of pledge service every Sunday morning? Do you share holy food? We have to learn how to unite as family members and with nations and with the world. Thus we have to spread this kind of tradition to the entire world. As blessed Unification Church members, we should anticipate each Sunday because that is the day when we can worship God, give our pledge to God, and share this holy food. By doing so, we can expand our territory and spread our God-centered tradition to the world.
The Sunday pledge service originated with True Parents, and you hold it every Sunday with True Parents; whether you are with us physically or spiritually, you are doing it together with True Parents. That is the preciousness. As blessed couples, particularly as parents, you have to make sure you bequeath our tradition to your children and your children’s generation. Through Sunday morning pledge service, you have to show your children how much you respect True Parents and you bequeath our tradition to them so they can learn from the way you respect and worship True Parents. By doing so, centered on God, this heavenly tradition will be inherited generation after generation. Your most earnest desire should be to keep this tradition in your family, worshiping as a family together with our True Parents by doing pledge together. This is a precious tradition.
No matter what the circumstance, whether you are in the hospital or traveling, you should always be alert to keep this tradition, centering on True Parents. For example, even if you cannot physically do Sunday morning pledge service, you should remember that moment and spiritually set that kind of condition.
On each major holiday, we come here and celebrate almost exactly the same way. We wear holy robes. Many people fly thousands and thousands of miles to attend this ceremony. As we scatter and go back to our mission and our homeland, our mind and body are usually divided, people are divided, there is conflict all over the world. However, on the major holidays, you have to cleanse yourselves internally and externally, come here and, centering on True Parents, build unity and harmony, horizontally as well as vertically with True Parents, centering on God.
It is an amazing miracle that through paying appropriate indemnity, you are in a position to connect with True Parents, to build this relationship with us, and restore this entire world beginning with the family, tribe and nation.
PREPARING YOUR OFFERING
God created Adam and Eve to build ideal individuals, families, nations and world but they failed, and that is why you are in this position to pay indemnity and have the privilege to join with True Parents in building the original world in place of Adam and Eve. On major Unification Church holidays, it is your greatest honor to attend this ceremony as representatives of your tribe or your nation. You should prepare for a month or even a year. Cleanse yourselves by taking cold showers and making all kinds of conditions in order to attend a major ceremony. By doing so you can inherit this tradition to your coming generation. You should prepare your offering, not just overnight but over the months and years, even if you have to skip meals or skip buying good clothes. Whatever you have to sacrifice, save the money and prepare your offering. That offering money will be used to develop the public mission and be used for the public purpose. That is very important.
The Old Testament contains strict commandments. Even when people spotted a dead worm or insect, they had to somehow purify themselves. Based on many stages of growth in the Old Testament era and New Testament era, finally True Parents came to this world. Now True Parents have liberated you from all these restrictions and laws. Therefore, blessed couples are in the position of an offering.
True love is the key, the model, the way we reach the Kingdom of Heaven. True love is the meaning and purpose of our life. Once we are centered upon true love, whatever we connect with centering on love becomes holy. A mother never feels dirty when she has to touch the baby’s waste; we should have a similar heart and love to offer the entire world. That is true love.
In the Old Testament, when they made an offering, they usually killed the animal, drained out its blood, and burnt the offering. People made burnt offerings in the Old Testament era, waiting for God’s children. In the New Testament era, the children offered themselves in expectation of the True Parents. When the True Parents came, now you should be able to offer everything as a holy offering; then True Parents will gather everything they received from their children and the entire world and will offer it as a holy offering to God. That is how the entire world will be liberated. That is the order.
THE CULMINATION OF HISTORY
The Lord of the Second Advent was supposed to come in glory and be received by every human being in the world with praise. However, in reality, the Lord of the Second Advent has received incredible persecution and mistreatment. This is a tragedy of humankind. The countries that persecuted and imprisoned me will be remembered with shame in human history. This includes North Korea, South Korea, Japan and United States. Those four countries are the worst places, from God’s viewpoint. Those countries are now going through difficult times. Look at the family destruction and breakdown in America and Japan. The youth problems are uncontrollable, just as at the time of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden when they fell. True Parents came to restore true sons and daughters for God and true families, but instead of receiving and welcoming True Parents, these central nations persecuted them; they must repent. True Parents came to restore children and families. This is our main purpose. Do you understand? How can those countries make restitution? By paying indemnity. Those countries are in a miserable situation. In a way, Korea is probably the worst country, worse than the Mafia organization. Japan as well. America also. The Mafia is in America, Korea and China.
I am no ordinary individual. I am connected to the entire human history of thousands upon thousands of years. The culminating point of history is True Father. The Christian culture represents the bride culture which was supposed to create the family culture. The bride culture and the bridegroom culture combine to form the family culture and then the children’s culture. Do you understand? Do you understand how important blessed couples are? You represent the entire universe. That is why Satan has been desperate to attack and get rid of me. That has been his total effort. to declare liberation of indemnity. On eight different levels, Satan has been attacking and trying to destroy True Parents and all blessed couples. That is over. One basic difference between Jesus Christ and True Parents is that Jesus Christ came to establish a national sovereignty and True Parents represent the entire world. Therefore, blessed children are in the position of national messiahs too; when they are on the national level, Satan still can attack and find some reason to criticize them, but once the Lord is on the worldwide level, Satan cannot attack or do any more harm to him. That is why even our blessed children on the level of national messiahship are subject to Satan’s attack. I may be attacked indirectly, but not directly. Jesus Christ was supposed to establish his family which could support him and help him become the national-level messiah and eventually march into Rome, which represented the entire world, and conquer it. But that didn’t happen. Because of that failure, Satan put Jesus on the cross.
Now True Parents made a strong enough foundation that Satan cannot destroy. Also True Parents have accomplished each level of responsibility and are now the worldwide-level Messiah. True Parents also united the major opposing countries -America, Japan, Korea, Germany- and brought them under True Parents’ wing. That is why Satan cannot attack me directly. Even if I didn’t have my family foundation, Satan cannot destroy me, because I am on the worldwide level. I passed the national level. I obeyed the call from God and established the foundation that goes beyond the boundaries of denomination.
Remember that I have been going through these eight stages single-handedly for the last 40 years. Nobody could help me, nobody else could have done it. Without these 40 years of accomplishments, nothing could have been done. Do you understand? I went from the individual level to the family level, tribal level, national level, worldwide level and cosmic level. Satan was against me. But, Satan cannot occupy my position. Through-out history, the restoration course has been a strategy of being hit first and then taking back what belongs to God. That has been my strategy.
THE EXPANDING CIRCLES OF THE BLESSING
I have been carrying all blessed couples with me. These couples cut off their relationship with Satan and were engrafted into the heavenly way through the Blessing. Beginning with three families, the Blessing has expanded to 36, 72, 430, 777, 1800, 6000, 6500, 30,000 and 360,000 couples. I created twelve stages of blessing history. The Old Testament era and the New Testament era involve the restoration of the elder sonship. Upon that, we can begin to restore parentship.
After I won the victory over communism, I declared True Parents and the New Testament era. Along with communism’s demise, I harmonized the democratic world and the communist world. In fact, after the demise of communism and even the destruction of democracy, all that will be left will be True Parents and the family system centering on True Parents. That is what is going on now. No matter where you look, no country can solve the fundamental family problems and youth problems rampant all over the world. Families around the world are collapsing. We have to restore the individual family center, the tribal family center, the national family center and the worldwide family center, centering on True Parents, connecting the blessed couple. Do you understand? With the declaration of the Family Federation for World Peace, a new traditional time period has started.
Only True Parents can solve the family problems all over the world. That is why these are the Last Days. This is the time like the exodus from Egypt. No matter how desperate their situation, they had to inform the members of their tribe and leave the country together. That kind of responsibility is upon our shoulder right now. We have to make sure that our tribe members get this truth. Do you understand? This is the time you are responsible to make sure that all your tribal members participate in this year’s Blessing. Even if they don’t want to come, it is your responsibility to make them come to the Blessing. Once they receive the Blessing, their attitude will be totally changed.
Satan has been shedding blood for thousands of years in order to prevent this heavenly period of the true family. This year is your golden opportunity. You don’t have to shed blood. Just do your absolute best to bring your relatives and tribal members to this Blessing. If you cannot do it, you will very much regret it. This is a turning point in time. All families can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Do you understand? This is the mission of blessed couples. Do you understand? (Yes) You American families are especially troublesome!
LIBERATING YOUR FAMILY AND NATION
Is there anybody who really cleansed yourself, from your hair to your toenails, for months and even years in order to come to this ceremony? God has been preparing Himself for tens of billions of years for this kind of holy day. Can we lower God’s holy standard? Can you take a break from your mission while God keeps marching day and night without a break? Can you claim a vacation as Unification missionaries? Where is our vacation? All families have been under Satan’s control. No matter how difficult it may be, you must liberate your family and nation. Blessed couples have lacked this absolute family foundation, so how can you build a Kingdom of Heaven? Does anyone have the absolute individual and tribal base? Then how can you have the national base?
You cannot come to this kind of holy ceremony with the same attitude that you go fundraising to a bar or take a vacation. When you travel to this kind of holy ceremony, you should be more serious than when you visit a dying parent, spouse, or child. I am giving you this clear message on my 77th birthday.
What has been the nature of your life of faith? When you carry this kind of mission on your shoulder, can you push it up even higher so you can carry True Parents and even God to a higher position instead of being crushed down by the weight of the mission? If you don’t you will become extinct.
Do you all have holy salt? The world where we have to use holy salt is not the Kingdom of God. We have to create the world where we don’t need holy salt. There has never been that kind of world. At the Holy Matrimony of True Parents, so stained; it was so dirty it didn’t have to exist. At True Parents’ Holy Matrimony, who else besides True Parents was qualified to be present? Nobody. Although the unqualified people deserved to be burned, True Parents couldn’t do that to them. Because the rest of humanity has a different lineage, it must be turned to the proper side. These major holidays are your opportunity to turn yourselves towards the heavenly lineage. You have to seriously understand the significance of True Parents’ Day, True Parents’ Birthday, True God’s Day, and all those major holidays.
FOLLOWING TRUE PARENTS’ TEACHING
I have been so serious in announcing these major holidays throughout these years, so you have to live up to True Parents’ expectation and standard. When you look at yourselves, you are stained, but True Parents cannot become like that. True Parents have to indemnify and restore the foundation that Adam and Eve destroyed because of their fall. During these years of walking the course of indemnity, do you think I cried out, “Oh it is so hard, so difficult”? No. I have been walking this course smiling with confidence. That is why Satan could not attack me. I have been teaching you with the heart of parents and the body of a servant, so you can shed your sweat for earth, blood for heaven and tears for mankind. That has been my lifelong course. By doing so I set the model for becoming a son of filial piety, a patriot, a saint on the worldwide level, and a holy son of God on the cosmic level, centering on true love. Without love, nothing can be connected. You know the formula, but can you say that you paid indemnity on the individual level, family level, tribal level and national level?
Just as God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of good and evil, True Parents are giving you this warning. Once anybody has absolute faith, absolute love, and absolute obedience, how can they dare to eat the fruit of good and evil? God did not give the commandment to Adam and Eve without having practiced that standard Himself. God already applied that standard when He created this entire world, particularly Adam and Eve, and He gave them that standard so that they could become His love partner.
I declared absolute faith, absolute love, absolute obedience in Jardim, Brazil, a few years ago, initiating this second generation’s 40-year course. This means that God and I want to make sure that through offering absolute faith, love and obedience, we build the original family and world which Adam and Eve lost because of their fall. Just as God gave the commandment to Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, now True Parents are warning you to have absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience to God and True Parents. Without this absolute standard, you cannot enter the Kingdom of God. Blessed husbands are in the position of restored Adam, not the archangel.
Since you are in the position of restored Adam and True Parents are in the position of God, you must heed this warning, no matter how difficult it may be! As tribal messiahs, as restored Adam, you should restore your tribal members and relatives. You must be able to unite the Cain and Abel types and even the archangel and satanic types and restore them to Adam’s family system. You need to bring even the worst family on Satan’s side to heaven. That mission is upon your shoulders. Centering on the restored Adam’s family, you should be able to restore two archangel families and then the satanic world will disappear. That is why the satanic world is always opposing and attacking to prevent this.
LIVING WITH GOD EVERY MOMENT
In 1992, I blessed 30,000 couples; this was the formation stage. The 360,000 Couples Blessing was the growth stage. Now the 3.6 Million Couples Blessing this year will be the perfection stage of the worldwide level vertical course. This Blessing will connect heaven and earth and open the doors to all 360 degrees in the physical world. Nothing is blocking us. With the vertical connection between heaven and earth, the people in the spirit world can receive this blessing too.
At the Blessing of 3.6 million couples, I am allowing Heung Jin Nim to exercise the Blessing in the spirit world so that all of the people who could not enter the Kingdom of God before can receive the Blessing there in heaven, stand behind Heung Jin Nim and Adam and Eve, and eventually enter the Kingdom of God. That is the course of restoration through indemnity.
Originally Adam was supposed to be on top and the arch-angel was supposed to be at the bottom, but because of the fall the order was reversed. Now True Parents came to this world and put everything right side up. Therefore, you have to be absolutely united with True Parents with the standard of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. That is the only way you can be connected to True Parents and God. That is the only way you can be qualified eventually to enter the Kingdom of God following True Parents. It requires family unity and a lifetime of dedication to enter the Kingdom of God. Live with God every moment-morning, noon, evening, 24 hours of each day feeling God’s presence, working with God, talking with God, loving God, and connecting with the angelic world and God. This is the Kingdom of Heaven. No matter how difficult your restoration course may be, there is no other way except to follow True Parents with absolute obedience. This is my conclusion this morning.
ASKING FOR MORE RESPONSIBILITY
I am 77 years old. No one knows how busy and hectic my schedule has been. Every time I gave leaders a heavy mission, in their mind they were struggling, “Oh, on top of this responsibility, another project, another project.” Yet they constantly followed me. Now they realize that was the way it had to be done. I never found any son on earth who could say, “Father, give me more responsibility, I will do more than what you asked me to do.” Which is the indemnity way? None of you really understood the course of indemnity. None of you really paid the proper indemnity to do your mission. That is why you have no choice but to stand behind me, holding on to the string which originated from me. Some of you are about 1,000 miles from me, still hanging on to this rope.
Think of all of those ardent Christians, Protestants and Catholics, who do not know Divine Principle yet. Once they clearly understand my true teaching and the Divine Principle, how eager and enthusiastic they will become to follow True Parents and to work with True Parents! You are in the position to lead those people, to even be ahead of those people, but you are not worthy because you have not done it. Therefore, when the time comes you will be trailing behind and the order will be reversed.
Today, on this 77th birthday of True Parents, I am giving you this message because this is the turning point, the transitional time period. Make sure you give absolutely everything to God and True Parents and follow with a standard of absolute faith, absolute love and absolute obedience. Even if you have to sell your house and all your assets, even if you have to sacrifice your family and tribe, make sure that you are with God and True Parents. You have to be determined to hang onto us. That kind of determination and conviction is required.
What kind of Blessing do you belong to: the true Blessing, a mediocre Blessing or the worst Blessing? After hearing my talk this morning, can you imagine how serious my life has been? This is not a children’s game. Think how busy and hectic my life has been. It’s like building a railroad, a locomotive, and all the boxcars in order to carry all these people and the dispensation. You do not truly understand indemnity. There-fore, you need to hang onto me.
After the 3.6 Million Couples Blessing, the Blessing will not be given by True Parents. You are the parents of the blessed children. When True Parents no longer give the Blessing, your children will complain, “Why can’t I receive the Blessing from True Parents themselves?”
When I selected the four major national messiahs for Uruguay, Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil, I blessed even their younger children and arrangements were made for their debts to be paid because I wanted them to come to South America and work with me. As national messiahs, you shouldn’t have any debts. When your children reach the Blessing age, if you don’t give them a chance to be blessed you cannot go out as a nation-al messiah. So I set up a paradigm, or an example, that nation-al messiahs should follow. Therefore, make sure that you are absolutely united with me. Can you do that? (Yes)
The course of indemnity is not a record taking formula, but is very scientific; there is not even a small crack where water can leak through. In my own family, for three generations the second son of each generation was killed. I was the second son of my generation. When I was born, my entire family and tribe was attacked. All kinds of incredible accidents and things happened. The invisible Satan exercised physical power to destroy my family at my birth. The first son, my elder broth-er, and my elder sister suddenly became crazy; all kinds of phenomena took place. Five out of 13 family members died the year I was born. It’s like a dream. In the law of indemnity, there is no exception. My second son, Hee Jin Nim, died by accident, and Heung Jin Nim died by accident. On the church side, the late President Hyo Won Eu died in the hospital by accident, because he was the second son of the three disciples. Otherwise, the first son would be naturally grabbed by Satan. By the same principles, Ye Jin Nim and Hyo Jin Nim are on the hook now. So we are responsible to restore them.
DEALING WITH WORLD PROBLEMS
Satan is still clinging to Japan, America and Germany, be-cause I gave them a chance to be restored; he is attacking me all the time. Are Japan and America centered on Christianity? Is Germany? In those nations, the most serious problem is the family breakdown and the youth problem. The Mafia is trying to destroy me, and eventually the gays and lesbians will realize, “We need a family too.” They may be at the end of the line following me in the future. God cannot subjugate this world right now, but I have the right to have a grip on this situation. Satan doesn’t have power to do that. True Parents alone have the authority and the right to deal with world problems. Do you understand? (Yes) The seeds that Satan sowed in the Gar-den of Eden are prospering in these Last Days. We have to root them out and burn them in order to cleanse everything. Evil fruits are being harvested from the evil seeds, so we have to burn them too. Also, we have to engraft them to the good tree now so that we can harvest good fruit.
In conclusion, you have to know our church tradition and keep Sunday morning Pledge Service, which is so important. I saw some second generation children who do not know about Sunday morning Pledge Service at all. They never heard about it! How can we say that they are from blessed couples? True Parents have been keeping this tradition for 40, 50, 60 years, so can you comfortably sleep on Sunday morning while other couples and True Parents are doing Pledge Service? What do you think? Do such lazy people deserve punishment or an award?
How many thousands and tens of thousands of years has God been waiting for True Parents’ Day? “True Parents” is not a simple term. It has thousands and thousands of years of history of the tears and sweat of God. The goal of creation was to find True Parents.
Do you really consider True Parents to be as important as your father-in-law or your uncle in the next village? (More) You have lived for yourself. In order to attend this kind of holy ceremony, you should be able to fast at least one day a month and save that money to bring as a holiday offering. If such offering money is collected, I will never spend it personally. Your offering represents yourself, so by offering this small amount of money, you are offering your entire body and mind. That kind of prayerful preparation is necessary.
I have stood before God to offer myself as a living offering dedicated to God, and God says, “I receive you.” When we do this with true love, everything is liberated. Suppose you prepare for an entire year, fasting and setting all kinds of conditions in order to attend this ceremony and offer a prayerful gyungbae. These seven major holidays are like seven bridges to help you approach the heavenly standard. Do you understand? Evaluate how you follow the stepping stones of these seven major holidays, and you will realize whether I am two steps above you or 10,000 steps above you. It is up to you.
You have to sacrifice yourselves to come closer to me. As you know, when I first started this church I told the early members not to go to college. Later on, I allowed them to continue their college education, but I never allowed them to go to graduate school. Many of them went to graduate school without my permission and gained their degrees. They set a bad spiritual condition. Even some of the 36 couples boast about their children having a Ph.D., but it is a mistake to do it without my permission. That creates a bad spiritual condition.
DEVELOPING MESSIANIC STRATEGIES
This is the era of kingship. This may be a time of fear, but for those who are prepared and don’t make mistakes it is a time of peace and joy. That is why I am telling all national messiahs, “Go out to your mission country, even if you have to leave your wife and family.” Some of the national messiahs are appealing to me, “I cannot get a visa into my country, so can I be dropped off the list of national messiahs?” As the worldwide Messiah, I never make compromises even though the entire world opposes me and makes all kinds of crazy noises against me. I just keep marching on. Some nations may have
a population of only 320,000 people; if that small country opposes its national messiah’s entry, should the national messiah give up? There are many different ways to accomplish things. Jacob came up with a strategy, during his 21-year wilderness course, to please his uncle and accumulate wealth, and eventually he won his victory. By the same token, if our national messiahs are really serious and desperate, they can find some way, either directly or indirectly, to accomplish their national messiahship. National messiahs should develop better strategies than Satan’s.
Please understand that these holy ceremonies are very fearful. If you are not properly prepared, it will affect you and your family. Many people with critical missions in the Unification Church died from cancer. My heart goes out to those people to cure their disease. I experimented with moksa and am spreading this method to the entire world through the national messiahs. On God’s Day in Brazil, I announced this method of treatment and gave a gift to each national messiah so that they can buy all of the necessary equipment to offer the mugwort smudge treatment in their nations.
Suppose there are no more public holy day ceremonies with True Parents, but I delegate to you the right to hold such ceremonies with your own tribe: my teaching this morning is to help prepare you for such a time. You have to inherit the tradition from me. This is a serious issue and Father is telling you the truth.
RESTORING KINGSHIP
Father is now driving the entire universe, the spirit world and the physical world, through one direction, because I am going to give the Blessing upon the worldwide scale. Each nation has been allocated a certain number of couples to bring to the Blessing this year. Each nation must carry out its responsibility. The wealthiest countries may be the last to accomplish their responsibility. If you are living in an advanced country, think how much sweat you have to shed in order to achieve that goal.
I am leaving you so you can accomplish your own individual level, family level, tribal level, national level and worldwide level. I have to go my own course in order to restore kingship successfully. Do you understand?
A king cannot meet just anybody. That is why I don’t go back to Korea now. In a way, I left Korean Christianity, both Protestant and Catholic, and am working with Protestantism and Catholicism on a worldwide level.
The worldwide Christian base is in South America and North America. South America represents the Catholic side and North America represents the Protestant side, the shimjung. I cannot think any more about the nation or family, because, by today, my 77th birthday, I completely fulfilled all the necessary conditions. Now, even if I hide deep in the mountains, sooner or later Christians will come and beg me to lead the unification of Protestantism and Catholicism. Even if South Korea and North Korea turn their backs to me, all 70 million people on the Korean peninsula will eventually come and beg me to lead the reunification of their peninsula. Do you understand? Eventually people will come and ask me to solve the cultural conflicts between East and West.
Does this mean that from tomorrow on I can take it easy and rest? Even if I stop helping the South American church and our different projects, eventually the world will be restored. Don’t you think it is time for Father to rest? (Yes)
If I take a break, all the nations have national messiah teams and blessed couples, and I have bequeathed everything to them. So now, even without me, God’s will shall be accomplished in this world. Do you understand? (Yes)
If my physical involvement with you ends, the whole spiritual world will come and work directly with you. Such an era is com.mg. Do you understand? (Yes)
Your ancestors in the spirit world are in the position to sup-port restored Adam’s family there upon receiving the Blessing from Heung Jin Nim. They will eventually come down and support you in the position of restored Adam in this physical world. However, if you are not aligned with the Divine Principle your ancestors will cut you out. How many people throughout the world who are above elementary school level have not heard about Rev. Moon at all? Not many. Virtually everybody above middle school age has heard about me. Those who do not understand Divine Principle are at the end of the line, but as soon as they learn Divine Principle, they will become the first.
If I had never exercised my right to give the Blessing, do you think I would have received as much opposition? Thou-sands and thousands of parents got angry because I matched their children. The arranged marriages between Japanese and Koreans and between blacks and whites caused a lot of opposition. I knew that when I was doing it. I knew that none of the Korean parents or Japanese parents would agree with me, but I did it anyway. However, when the time comes for Korea and Japan to be united as one nation, they will select a leader of mixed lineage. Suppose Great Britain and France become one nation: instead of selecting a leader from pure English or pure French background, they will likely choose someone of mixed blood. The same principle applies to Germany and France. I knew from the beginning that in order to prepare for the future world, I had to do this no matter how severe the persecution.
RAISING THE STANDARD
In America there are tens of thousands of interracial, international couples who married outside of Unification Church, but their children do not always maintain a higher standard of life. In some cases, they are the ones who are exercising homosexuality, are drug addicts, alcoholics and the like. Eventually they will recognize the value and standard of the Unification Church marriages, the international, interracial couples, and they will bow down and follow our couples. When two extremes meet, whatever was in between will naturally merge. We can go out and invite those international, interracial couples to join the Unification Church and guarantee the security of their marriage. We can launch a campaign to receive these international, interracial couples into the Unification Church. The time is com.mg now.
Suppose you have a younger brother or sister who is doing all kinds of crazy things like prostitution: do you kill your brother or sister and send them to hell or do your absolute best to restore them? (Restore them.) This is truly the time of Blessing, the time of grace from God. Even if your brothers and sisters have been living a garbage life, sleeping with any number of men or women, if they learn Divine Principle and sign membership, they can participate in this Blessing and be forgiven. So this 3.6 Million Couples Blessing means the liberation of couples and families. Among the 3.6 million couples may be some murderers, robbers and swindlers. If we have to deal with the individual circumstances and crimes of the 3.6 million couples, it would take tens of millions of thousands of years to cleanse them, but because of this time of Blessing grace, because of this particular Blessing time, and through this one prayer of mine, everybody will be cleansed. This is true love power. (Clapping) Once this true love power has been activated, no matter how strong the attraction of satanic love is or approaches, it will be eliminated.
Church leaders who officiated the preblessings in Korea, Japan and America, report: “Father, we never expected the Blessing power to be this great.” Regardless of the degree of their preparation, people who receive the Blessing become changed, sometimes 180 degrees, sometimes 90 degrees, some-times 120 degrees. After the Blessing, the wife takes her husband’s arm and says, “You have been fooling around all these years, but now that you received this holy Blessing, can you do that again?” Then he said, “No, I’m not going to do that again; please forgive me.” And the wife says, “True Father is my elder brother now, so you cannot do that; if you do I will report you to my True Father.” So this is truly the time of women’s liberation. (Clapping) This is the way that you women can create an ideal husband. This is the time. Do you understand?
FOLLOWING TRUE PARENTS’ DIRECTION
As a woman, what position do you desire? Do you want to be my younger sister, elder sister, aunt or grandmother? Which position do you feel the closest to me or most comfortable? Aren’t the positions of younger sister and grandmother the most comfortable? Then what about your husband, what position is he in? The younger brother’s position or grandfather’s position? Archangel position. So you husbands must under-stand that no matter what direction I give to your wife, you have to be happy because they are in the position of my younger sisters. When you offer yourself completely like that, she will then return to you and take the position of your wife. In the Garden of Eden, Eve was in the position of Adam’s wife but she was taken away. By the same token, in the time of restoration, now, even if your wife leaves home to undertake a mission, you cannot complain. That is the only condition which will completely restore yourself. Why? Because the archangels cannot have partners. That is why women from all over the world are being mobilized because the women are on my side. They are like True Mother’s younger sisters. Do you think I created this theory right now to please you or is it from the restoration providence? It is the restoration formula.
So what is your preference, particularly you Western women? Do you want to follow your husband’s direction, listen to your children, or be united with True Father? (Father) Well, you Western sisters, look at me. My hair is a different color and my face even looks different. Are you still willing to follow me? (Yes)
Satan has done all kinds of tricks on us throughout history. Restoration through indemnity is serious. People say they don’t need women, or men, or children. The satanic world is now doing that. Men don’t want a wife or children. But the heavenly side needs everybody. Satan created the environment, and now heaven will harvest it. Suppose a woman or girl who practiced free sex for many years joins the Unification Church, learns Divine Principle, is matched to a virgin man, and they become a couple: do you think God will punish them? No matter how dirty and terrible the environment created by Satan is; without knowing, Satan even contributed for that purpose, when the time comes for God to restore the entire world at once, the entire world will be restored no matter what people’s situation may be.
You could say that the Blessing is gold-plating our sexual organs. Suppose we have to plate this entire sexual organ with 24-carat gold. You can’t tell by looking at gold whether it is pure 24-carat, 23.999-carat, or 18 carat. People go with all kinds of fake gold, and many of them don’t care about the quality of the gold of their spouse. Of course, God is not going to say,
“Oh, you are 24-carat gold, you are 18-carat and like that.” Only True Parents have the right to stamp someone 18-carat, 14-carat, or pure gold. But there is a catch. Even if you are not 24-carat gold, at least you should have the same color. (Laughter) In other words, your family must resemble my life. We must try our absolute best to become 24-carat pure gold; that is the life goal for your entire family and your descendants. If you are 18-carat gold or 14-carat gold, I will eventually put you into the furnace again and melt you until you become 24-carat gold. So, make sure you give proper and bright education to your children for the future of your lineage. Do you understand?
Suppose you have five children and you are willing to offer them for an international, interracial marriage. Then your descendants will be purified in a much shorter time because they will have to go through a lot more heartache and suffering than ordinary couples. Suppose you have five sons and each of your five daughters-in-law comes from a different enemy country. Think about the hurdles involved in harmonizing them as they live together; that is the training ground. Once you digest five different nationalities and win a victory, then you have conquered five nations.
I deal with Unification Church members of five different colors without any discrimination, on an equal basis. That is why I can fly from one comer of the world to another at will at any time; there are no boundaries for me. Centering on true love, there are no boundaries-only living for the sake of others. That is the Kingdom of God. Do you understand?
PREPARING FOR HOLY DAY CELEBRATIONS
On my 77th birthday, I am giving you this clear explanation. Before you celebrate this kind of holy ceremony, you should feel like a sinner of sinners, shedding tears, sweat and blood in order to prepare for this kind of holy ceremony. This is the most serious moment, because if you are not properly prepared for this ceremony you will be attacked by Satan in some way. The law of indemnity still exists, and this law applies even to my life. Of course, it applies to your life too. When we tum 360 degrees, we shouldn’t have any speck on our conscience; it should be crystal clear.
Last year alone, I invested incredible effort and resources in South America. Who else in this world does that kind of work? Among the 33 nations of Central and South America, can any head of state do that? Can any religious leader dare to do that? I am the only one who makes that kind of sacrifice; that is why God blesses me. By receiving this blessing from God, I could lay a strong foundation in South America within one year and accomplish as much as I did in America over the last 20 years. In North America I started from the bottom up, but in South America, I started from top to bottom. Going down is easier.
No one can compete with me in loving and sacrificing for the 480 million people in South America. Therefore, eventually the entire population of South America and Central America will have to follow me and be united with me.
All Christians like true love. With true love, I am touching everyone’s heart so that every preacher and all mankind will ultimately follow; even those on the opposing side will follow me and connect with me.
Those who work harder and offer more will become the central people in God’s providence. National messiahs who try to keep their position as a messiah will not be successful and will fail, but those national messiahs who start from the bottom, sweat with the local people, cry together with them, and pour their hearts and love into the people in those nations will become like the fertilizer for that entire nation and its people; they will become victorious.
In conclusion, what is this year’s motto? The fact that we established a family means that we sowed a seed for a nation. The individual doesn’t matter so much now; what matters is the family unit. I have been harvesting the family-level seeds from all different races and continents all these years. You just have to focus on your own tribe and your own neighbors and harvest these 160 families. Your family doesn’t have to face continuous persecution. Make the right relationships centering on true love. Those who have confidence that you can do your mission to accomplish the 3.6 Million Couples Blessing this year, show your hands. (Clapping)
Make your determination and commitment to do your absolute best to accomplish the 3.6 Million Couples Blessing. Suppose one person fasts one or two meals every day and faithfully does his mission in order to gain the victory, and another person takes it easy and enjoys life while still accomplishing this mission, where will God’s sympathy go? Who is more valuable, the hard worker or the easy worker? I like hard work, and you like easy work. So from now on, will you take the hard life course or the easy life course to accomplish your goal? Easy life is lazy like. It is no good.
Since you pledged to take responsibility for accomplishing the 3.6 Million Couples Blessing, I will take it easy and relax because I trust you. You may think, “Well that old man always pushes us to the extremes.” Make sure that the 3.6 Million Couples Blessing is accomplished this year, then you may think that way. Okay?
After we achieve the goal this year, even if I pass into the spirit world, Heavenly Father’s will shall be done. When the time comes, I will take my hands off the physical providence and rest somewhere. Then many of you may come forward and beg, “Father, we need your push; please come and give us another push like you used to do. Make us work hard.” But I will say, “No.” Because once this Blessing foundation is done, your own physical parents will have to work. If the children work harder than their parents, that lineage has hope. Should the second generation children work harder than the first generation parents, or less hard? Hard work means more good fruit. In the autumn time, good fruits come.
This teaching is my 77th birthday gift to you. Also I am asking Rev. Kwak to read to the general membership the speech I gave on January 2 of this year in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In that speech, I went into deep explanation of the heart of restoration and our attitude. God Bless you.