Father’s speech on Parent’s Day Celebration on March 25, 1982 in World Mission Center
What is grieving the creation that God made? Creation is pursuing the original ideal home, wanting to live and prosper there. If you ask anyone on the street whether he has parents with true love, he will say no. He cannot say he has original brothers and sisters with true love. Neither does he have the original relatives, original world, or original God.
God is a God of love, and He must be thinking of how to create some model or microcosm of a world with true parents, true brothers and sisters and a true society, which the world can copy in order to be saved. God wants the whole world to see that model. The fallen world, however, is exactly the opposite, so when that model world comes, the fallen world will want to destroy it.
At the end of the world, it is the destiny of all four billion people on earth and all those in spirit world to be linked to True Parents. God is bringing His dispensation to a close centering on this ideal. In looking at this Parents’ Day, we can see that God has already accomplished this idea of true parents and true children, true society and true nation. This is the reason for our celebration.
No matter what Satan may say, God wants to proclaim that you are His honorable, great and beloved sons and daughters. When God can say that you are honorable, He means that you have shown you will not be shaken by any temptation or suffering. When God says that you are great, He means that you give Him great hope because you have confronted the satanic world and won the battle.
I want to become the first honorable and great and courageous son of God. That has always been my determination. The American government is trying to prove that I am a criminal, but I will walk into the courtroom as an honorable and courageous son of God.
People of all religions and all countries are firing arrows at me. Arrows can fly silently and pierce your heart when you aren’t aware of them. I have been the target of silent arrows coming from all over the world, at all times of day and night. The only reason I could survive is that God defended me; God mobilized the universe to protect me, and that is the only reason I am still alive. Wherever I move, God’s attention follows. God cannot afford to see this ideology of True Parents fail; it is God who declared an emergency.
God wants His son to prepare a dwelling place for Him on earth. I have to do that in every continent. Every day reports from around the world reach me, of how our members are suffering and even dying through accidents or persecution. What kind of news do you think I hear more of each day sorrowful news or joyful news? What is the reason I keep going? The future of God and mankind is resting on our shoulders. Our work may look trivial, but the purpose behind it is divine. I want you to be proud.
I was young like you at one time. I was dynamic and could have enjoyed my life. Instead, I chose to become a cast out. to be the leader of the Unification Church for the sake of God. I knew God’s will and His heart, and I could take no other way. I saw only one way to save mankind from tragedy. The salvation of mankind might have taken hundreds of years, but I wanted to do it in the shortest possible time, definitely within my lifetime. Now the world is beginning to understand my true ideal and purpose. Regardless of how corrupted the world is, conscience still lives in people, and in time it will explode like an atomic bomb.
My human side is saying that I am sorry for you. You are such beautiful young people, but ever since you began following me you have encountered only one difficulty after another. Sometimes you are in anguish and don’t know what to do; sometimes you feel you can no longer continue. Each one of you has wavered, and at the same time, the entire world is trembling. I am the only one who holds firm like a rock.
I want to give you some instruction on this Parents’ Day: Those who feel that they love me but that this life is just too difficult for them may go out the door now and come back later, when everything is done. I am telling you now that I don’t want anyone here who will not be a positive element in this movement. I need the kind of people who will join me and be like rocks, who want to bring comfort and victory to God and salvation to mankind.
You should think that you will live on until the day you can inherit the true tradition of the heavenly kingdom and God’s ideal, and then you can die. Until you consummate the ideal on the family level, tribal level, national and world levels, you should feel you cannot give up. Until my death I shall continue on. How about you? Your recommitment to this goal of becoming one with True Parents in establishing the true family, society, nation and world, will be the most important aspect of this celebration.
Every day I am thinking of the members who are working underground. I wish I could be just an ordinary member who could run after those brothers and sisters and help them, but I have no freedom of movement. How free you are in comparison! Free to dedicate yourself and work hard every day. Your potential is great. Last night Mother and I reread a 1979 letter from a brother assigned to work underground in a communist country. This brother asked me to come, but even if I did go, he could not greet me openly; at best, he could see me from a distance or make some secret sign. But even under those circumstances, he still wanted me to come. How fervent is his love! In my heart I told that member I would talk about him in my Parents’ Day sermon. Our members have gone to the place of death without fear, without fanfare. Only with the power of God’s love could we do these things.
Spiritually, millions of people are dying every day. If you cannot feel this while you are out in the world, then you are dead inside. You really need to give yourself for the salvation of this society. That must be your dedication today.
This giant country is paralyzed; you must become its blood, muscles and nervous system so it can move again. You should want to give every drop of your blood for this nation, even if your time of joyful youth passes away. Members speculate about when the next Blessing will come, but what kind of blessing do you want when this nation and world are crumbling? The Blessing is not for your own sake, but for your posterity. Revolutionize your way of thinking; love your country as much as you love your fiancé.
Centering on True Parents, we should determine to give our lives so that all mankind shall see a day of hope, and rejoice one day with God and True Parents.
I did not come here in order to leave my own achievement and tradition, but to leave God’s work and tradition. My goal is to save not just this country but the world. That is your mission as well. If another country welcomes me and I go there to guide the people and our members there, who will guide this country? When you Americans go to other countries and do exactly as I have done here, you will be persecuted and misunderstood; but you will have the power to persevere by remembering that when white people persecuted me, I loved America to the end. You can demonstrate the same way of life.
I am sending you out to bear your own fruit in home church. In order to restore tribal conflicts, we have to become tribal chiefs who can create harmony and unity among the tribes. Without that, no ideal nation can come about. Two tribes, representing Cain and Abel, must be united into one. You are setting up you Cain type home church, and later your Abe type home church; ultimately, you will bring them together, and then the ideal shall become a reality.
After joining in this celebration, we must recommit ourselves to the divine call in which God delights, in which True Parents delight, and in which the nation and all mankind can delight.
While Adam and Eve were still very young, spirit world was narrow, but as they grew, spirit world also widened. When Adam and Eve reached maturity, God intended for the spirit world and physical world to become one, centering on the love of God and perfected mankind.
But Adam and Eve fell all the way down to rock bottom, and instead of the spirit world widening out as they grew, it became even more narrow. As a result of the fall, the spirit world was almost never visible to mankind; it has remained dark and mysterious. The sensation of being there would be like choking, and nowhere in such a spirit world could you find any solution to life.
By origin, man is a being of spiritual nature, no matter how feeble it may be. People still living in this world should stress conscience, a striving to reach higher ideals. If you have limited knowledge, then you have a limited conscience. On the other hand, as your knowledge about the world increases, your conscience can also increase. The axis at the center of each conscience leads to the unity of an ideal man and woman in true love.
Our ancestors in spirit world must come down and share in this widening of conscience, and generations in the future will follow the path we pioneer. Spirit men must work again through people on earth, in order to be resurrected and complete their unfinished course. The level of the true line of conscience will be elevated higher and higher. Those in spirit world welcome it, for then their course will be made easier also.
Throughout history, this has been only a hope, but now it is becoming reality. Religions have tried to bring men and women up to this point, and now the reality is being started by the Unification Church.
If Satan hears that Adam and Eve are growing, he will try to obstruct them with all his might, while all the good angelic forces will try to support them. But even though the path is open, if Adam and Eve are in conflict, their path of advance will be blocked. Eve might say, “Why should I listen to you?” and Adam might retort, “I am greater than you are.” We have to have absolute love in order to reach God’s love, loving first our spouses, then our families, our nations and the world, and finally coming to God’s love.
True Parents are the foundation of the Unification Church, and as our church grows, that family domain in spirit world will be widened as well. As that passage ever broadens, greater numbers of good spirit men can come down to spend time with us. The intense wish of all the billions of spirit men is for the Unification Church to arrive at the culminating point. Suppose the Unification Church becomes accepted on the national level; then automatically an equivalent area will be opened up in the spirit world. From the beginning, the Unification Church has been widening God’s domain through serving others and absorbing persecution. During the first 21year course, you worked to establish heaven’s domain generally in this world, and now you are continuing to work so that the same thing will happen in the spirit world.
Jesus was the second person to come as the ancestor of man, but his followers did not have absolute faith in him or practice absolute love. His disciples should have wanted to die in Jesus’ place, rather than see him killed. Jesus would never have been crucified had they thought that way.
The mission of the Unification Church is to indemnify the situations of both Adam and Jesus, by having absolute faith and ideal love. Christian churches have been opposing the Unification Church, for no logical reason, and we have had to defend ourselves against this by legal means. I spent two years and eight months in a North Korean prison, a time roughly equivalent to the length of Jesus’ public ministry. The Jews wanted Jesus to be crucified, and likewise it was the Christians who had me sent to prison in North Korea, with the aid of the government. By going to that prison, I could recover 12 disciples, in place of those who had betrayed me before. My 12 disciples from prison followed me during the hell of prison life. Thus, whether on a spiritual or physical basis, my foundation had to be better than the foundation on which Christianity started. That gave me a base on which to restore Christian tradition and culture, and I could return to South Korea. After laying a foundation in Korea, naturally I would come to America, to boldly proclaim what is right and wrong in this country.
From February 22, 1948 (the date of Father’s arrest in North Korea) to February 22, 1982 is a period of complete indemnity for Jesus’ life. Now that this period has been recovered and completed victoriously, the spiritual and physical foundations for Christianity have been restored. Thus, I stand at the culminating point, where the indemnity of the spirit world and the indemnity of the physical world connect. That point should also be the culminating point of the world level. That is the significance of February 22, 1982.
Because Jesus died at age 33, his 34th year is within the domain of resurrection. We have successfully crossed over the point at which Jesus died, and now we are in the realm of new life, or resurrection. We know that behind us are thousands of generations of history, and ahead of us are endless generations. God is comfortably standing on my side, and we can project that there will be no opposition beyond this horizontal and vertical line on the world level. Our opponents will give up, and automatically we will prosper.
Until now, the spirit world could come for periods of time to help, but they could not stay continuously. But from February 22 on, the spirit world will be able to work continuously with us, and now the vertical line of spirit world and the horizontal line of physical world are united, centering on true love and True Parents. We have great hopes for the 34th through the 40th years, expecting that things will be settled one by one in proper order. The I 990’s will be completely different from anything mankind has previously witnessed. Christian societies will experience a great revival, with new ethical and moral invigoration.
When an outer enemy strikes, the inner element will become strong. Unification Church members have never been completely, ideally united, but now is a good time for them to be completely united in God’s sight. We have to deserve our name! Then the victory I have won can quickly be passed along to all the members.
It is imperative that all Unification Church members know what position we stand at in history today. To come this far, I had to indemnify all levels of the individual, family, clan, nation, world and spirit world. I want to pass this on to all Unification Church members, so you can stand in my position. But in order to inherit the advantage of this time, you too must first go that path of indemnity; then you can stand in my position and be free to go anywhere. In a nutshell, this inheritance comes in home church.
Home church is the foundation to go beyond national boundaries. Only after being successful in home church are we worthy of having our rightful position in spirit world.
This time is like the moment before the sun rises. The dawn is gathering and the sun is just about to show itself. In home church, you will see the sun rise. With this confidence, you can do home church. The Unification Church has gone through much suffering just to see this one day. We will focus on uniting and on doing home church.
When we think deeply, we ask ourselves, “How can I fit into this world, nation and society, and still be able to fulfill my own personal ideals and desires?” Everyone wants to see events occur exactly as he wishes, but that seldom happens. Living in a free country doesn’t mean people can do whatever feels good. Only upon the public foundation can freedom truly flourish. When you became a member of the Unification Church, you joined a new kind of disciplined environment, which has certain rules and regulations. To enjoy true freedom, you have to see your personal desires and ambitions in a new light; you must direct yourself according to a certain discipline.
The court asked me to appear. I stand up to all these experiences, conquering them in order to acquire true freedom, true joy and true fulfillment. Today, April 1, I am going to court. Many Unification Church members are very solemn and gloomy, but don’t feel that way. You should feel that this is a confrontation in which the more public standard will overcome. I have never been afraid of court battles. I have endured incredible injustices, but each time I have been confronted in public arenas, I have prevailed. This will be no exception.
If you are really convinced that our public stand is the highest possible one, then hold on to your commitment and persevere. If you are truly moving forward unselfishly towards the goal of public wellbeing, God will always be following you. As soon as you have won the battle, He will step forward and plant the victory flag in front of you.
Our goal in the Unification Church is to reach the heart of God and to create the world of God’s heart. I am the coach in our marathon race to that goal. Should I give the runners an easy training schedule, or should I push them every minute of the day, so they can accomplish this goal? The Unification Church is under a tough coach, that’s for sure! After two or three years’ discipline from this coach, you cannot help but change. People see that under my coaching, you have become very charming and attractive. People say all kinds of bad things about Moonies until they actually meet one! If those around you are attracted to you and if God likes you, what other goal can we have? We can become the hope of the world, as well as the hope of God.
True victory can be attained only by a person with a public heart doing public deeds. The word “public” is synonymous with “unselfish.” Can you determine to follow my example, living your entire life for the sake of righteousness and the public value, overcoming all obstacles and attacks? You might want to put off trying to achieve the ultimate goal and do whatever you wish for now. A long time ago I came to the conclusion that there is no easy way out. We must each think, “I was born for the public purpose, so I am going to walk the public path every inch of the way.”
You were born not by your will but someone else’s. Some mysterious power is working in your lives. The air you breathe, the sunlight that warms you, the food you eat nothing really belongs to you; you are only a custodian of these things while they are on loan to you. As you grow, you become indebted to your parents, to nature, your society, nation and so forth. I have been teaching you to seek a greater and more public way of life. Even if your parents and your society oppose you, you have the strength to continue this public way of life.
From the public point of view, no one can deny that I have given my heart, soul and resources for the sake of this country, which is so central to God’s providence at this time. My true victory will be won in the judgment of history. Eventually a more public minded group of Americans will praise and honor me for what I have been doing. We must be strong and bold, because we have nothing to be ashamed of.
Your family is a higher public level than you as an individual; the society is higher than your family, the nation higher still and the world beyond that. God is more public minded than the world, and God’s heart is the ultimate realm of public mindedness. You can’t just leap to God’s heart, that highest standard of public life. That giant oak tree behind you started many years ago as an acorn, grew into a small shoot, then a little sapling. When the tree was young, it was vulnerable to drought; when it became big, it was exposed to winds and lightning. It had to follow the rules of nature in order to become fully grown.
In the same way, in the Unification Church, there are certain rules: the individual must live for his family, the family for society, the society for the nation, the nation for the world, the world for the universe, including the spirit world and all of these for God and God’s heart. Once the individual has reached that highest possible level, he can return to himself in the greatest fulfillment and become the center of the universe.
You do all kinds of hard work in the Unification Church, yet you feel peace and joy and fulfillment here. I never pat you on the back or comfort you, and there are thousands of members who have never even seen me in person. Why do you stay? Because you found the greatest public life through my teaching and standard of heart. Your motivation is the most important factor of your life, for your value is not determined by what kind of work you do. When your thoughts are one hundred percent for the public purpose, then no door will be closed to you.
Most people think that courts are found only on earth, but I know that there is another supreme court in heaven, where God Himself presides. There, based on the standard by which I have lived, God and history have judged me to be not only innocent, but honorable. That is the ultimate victory, and it has already been won.
Everyone on earth must eventually face that supreme court. Most people pass through that judgment when they die, but for those who pass through it while they are living physically on earth, there is no death. Don’t you want to be judged “not guilty” by God’s supreme court while you are living on earth? Because I want to see you pass that judgment, I am sending you to Africa and South America, to primitive jungles, to suffer for the public purpose with the most public minds.
I have no fear. My mind and heart never wavered when I came to this country, and I spoke out fearlessly for righteousness. My desire is to allow true justice to prevail; therefore, I confronted these charges face to face. Throughout history, righteous persons have gone the same way. I never feel lonely, for all the righteous men in history who have suffered and been persecuted are with me today and every day.
The road of righteousness is always a road for the bold and strong. Walk the path of righteousness with your chin held high. Even if I should no longer be among you, today’s sermon should be a guide for the rest of your life. The spirit of this teaching will live forever. My spirit will remain in America, no matter what, to guide this nation in the path of righteousness. The time will come when righteous people of America will take this path and follow the example of my teaching. Then America will once again be moving in the right direction. My prayer today is for my accusers, that their lives may not become miserable because of me. I am asking God to forgive them.
You may forget many things, but never forget this one point: we are destined to live a public way of life. God will be the judge, and His verdict alone will stand throughout history. Satan will be your prosecutor, and Jesus and I your defense lawyers. Every deed you do, in every moment of the day, is recorded and will be judged in that final courtroom. The public way of life is your preparation for that final judgment, the basis of being found not guilty, being declared an honorable citizen of the universe.
Every one of you who follow my teachings will be judged not guilty. Your public way of life will be a beacon of hope for all generations to come.