Father’s speech at the Ninth World Culture and Sports Festival Congratulatory Banquet which was held on July 13, 2003 at Sun Moon University
Respected present and former heads of state, leaders from countries around the world, religious leaders and youth representatives:
First, I give thanks to God that with Heaven’s protection, and your enthusiastic participation, the ninth World Culture and Sports Festival has come to a successful conclusion.
At the Opening Ceremony a few days ago, I declared that the peaceful unification of the heavenly and earthly realms will be accomplished based on true love and through people living their lives for the sake of others, irrespective of others’ religion, nation or race. My ability to make such a revolutionary declaration is based upon a background of truly remarkable events that link heaven and earth.
Unfortunately, due to the fall of the first human ancestors, Adam and Eve, we are all descendants of the fall. Through no choice of our own, we inherited the lineage of Satan. God, however, created human beings to be His children, and He has worked tirelessly in the background to move the providence of restoration forward. Two thousand years ago, an attempt was made to bring the providence of restoration to a conclusion through Jesus; but it was prolonged again as a result of disbelief of the Jewish people and the nation of Israel. As was made clear by the resolution adopted by the five great saints in the spirit world, however, we now come to the time when God’s providence to bring about human restoration must be concluded centering on me, the person who has appeared in substantial form as the True Parent of humanity, the returning Lord, the Savior and the Messiah.
As with Jesus two thousand years ago, I have gone through unspeakable persecution and suffering over the past eighty years. I was victorious over all those difficult circumstances, however, and on January 13, 2001, on the threshold of the new millennium, I offered to God “The Coronation Ceremony of the Kingship of God.” This was a historic event that resolved the grief of God, who has endured untold suffering and has waited for six thousand years. On that foundation, I was able to declare to heaven and earth the opening of Cheon Il Guk (the Kingdom of God).
Cheon Il Guk means “the world where two become one.” First, our minds and bodies must become one, and then complete unity must be established between husbands and wives, and between parents and children. It must come among religions, among nations, and between the spirit world and the earthly world. It refers to a world in which the entire cosmos lives as one family under the one God.
The Bible says those who believe will be blessed. Ladies and gentlemen, we are already in the third year of the era of Cheon Il Guk, and we are accelerating the pace of its construction. Through the practice of living God-centered lives for the sake of others, the earth is shaking with the sound of cheers that chase away the remnants of Satan.
In particular, on February 6 of this year, truly historic and providential ceremonies of historic declaration were held on the occasion of the joint birthday of my wife, Hak Ja Han Moon, and me. These were, “The Holy Marriage Blessing Ceremony of the Parents of Heaven and Earth Opening Cheon Il Guk” and “The Coronation of the King of the Blessed Families of the Peace and Unity of the Cosmic True Parent and the Parents of Heaven and Earth.” God’s kingship has been restored and True Parents have secured their kingship over all blessed families in heaven and on earth. God is thus now able to receive birth and marriage registration. Originally, this providence should have been accomplished through Adam and Eve as substantial beings, but due to their fall, God has waited for six thousand years.
On the basis of this series of cosmic declarations, the spirit world and physical world are becoming one both in name and in reality, and the world of peace that has long been God’s deep cherished desire is rapidly settling on the earth. With the victory of the True Parents, the spirit world has been pacified, and the way has been opened for tens of billions of absolutely good spirits to be sent to the earth. Through me, they have already received the marriage blessing and become proud blessed couples. They will come to earth with the status of citizens of Cheon Il Guk and work with their descendants.
With the aid of such cooperation from our ancestors in the spirit world, and through the Ceremony of the Great Transition to the Realm of Dominion of the Ideal of Creation in the grace of the new blessing, humanity is now breaking out of the realm of Satan’s dominion and entering the realm of God’s dominion. It is a great revolution in cosmic history in which the lineage of Satan is completely severed and humanity is grafted on to the realm of God’s lineage. We must therefore fight every minute and every second so that our relatives can receive the marriage blessing as quickly as possible and so that our tribes can be restored to Heaven.
The Kingdom of Heaven is not a place we can enter alone. We can only enter it together as families. Before another day passes, you must educate your relatives and give them salvation in your capacities as Ambassadors for Peace. Once we have secured our status as citizens of Cheon Il Guk on the foundation of receiving the marriage blessing while on earth and concretely attending the True Parents, we stand in the position of older brothers in relation to our ancestors in the spirit world. As sinless, good people of Cheon Il Guk, we become their ancestors.
As I mentioned during the opening ceremony, this blessing movement must be carried out around the world on a dimension transcending religion, nationality, and race, with yesterday’s enemies becoming today’s family members, and creating miracles of the 21st century. It does not matter how great the differences of doctrine or of language, culture, or custom may be. If a man and woman become one as husband and wife centered on God and unite their lineages, the buds of harmony, unity and the creation of a new culture, will develop. This is the miracle of cross-cultural marriage that I have been teaching for many decades. Already, hundreds of millions of couples who have received the cross-cultural marriage blessing from me are establishing families of true love, and living for the sake of others both in this world and in the spirit world. I take this opportunity to stress once again that this is the only way that true world peace can be assured.
Respected guests, I am sure you must have learned and experienced many things through the various events of the ninth World Culture and Sports Festival. It is now time for us to transfer this learning and experience into practice. Time is short. God’s providence of restoration, over the course of which He has waited six thousand biblical years, is now entering the final harvest period, and the wheat is being separated from the chaff. Please open your minds broadly, accept and put into practice in your lives “True Parentism”–or “True Love-ism”–which is the only philosophy capable of saving humanity in this age. It represents our only hope. All of us are called to build a world of interdependence, mutual prosperity, and universally shared values, that is, one harmonious world that is God’s ideal of creation. We must accomplish this by leading lives that, like the sun at high noon, cast no shadow–where there is perfect alignment of our heart, our body and our mindset with God.
You now have three things that you must be proud of and grateful for wherever you go. The first is the fact that we all are encountering Cheon Il Guk in our lifetimes. The second is that the way has been opened wide for anyone who believes in Heaven, receives the Holy Blessing, and participates in the Registration Blessing Ceremony to become a citizen of Cheon Il Guk. Ultimately, if we restore God’s lineage by becoming one in heart through the Holy Blessing, then all humankind will become the brothers and sisters of one family of man, and both the earthly world and the heavenly world will become our common homeland.
When you return to your homes, I hope that you will become Ambassadors for Peace who will play substantial roles in the plan for the renewal of the United Nations that I am proposing and developing for the sake of realizing world peace. Again, I express my heartfelt gratitude to you for participating in WCSF and making it such a great success. I pray that the blessings of Heaven will be with your families forever. Thank you.